Imperial Tobacco

Imperial Tobacco today launched one of Britain's biggest rights issues asking shareholders for £4.9bn to repay some of the debt it owes following the acquisition of Altadis.
The tobacco giant, which owns the Lambert & Butler, Davidoff and JPS cigarettes brands, is offering shareholders one new share at £14.75 for every two existing shares they own. That is a 44pc discount to the £26.18 share price when the market closed yesterday.
The rights issue is fully underwritten by Hoare Govett, Morgan Stanley, Citi and Lehman Brothers. advertisement Imperial Tobacco had already hinted that it would rise up to £5bn so that it could keep up its investment-grade credit rating following the €12.6bn (£10m) purchase of Altadis.
The acquisition of Altadis, which makes Gauloises and cigarettes , was completed in January.
Imperial Tobacco is also trying to buy out the remaining 40pc of Logista, a Spanish logistics company in which Altadis owned a 59.6pc stake. It could cost the tobacco company, which is run by chief executive Gareth Davis, around €910m.
The rights issue comes as some of Britain's largest banking companies - including Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Bradford & Bingley - have gone to their shareholders to ask for extra funds amid the credit crisis.
Some of these banks have priced their rights issues at a substantial discount to their prevailing share prices.