Woodside Completes First Stage of Equity Raising

Australian major Woodside Energy has completed the institutional component of its equity raising which it plans to use for the acquisition of an additional 50% interest in the Western Australian Scarborough gas field, the company said February 19.

“We are pleased with the strong support from our institutional investors for the Institutional Entitlement Offer,” Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said.

“We consider this a positive endorsement of our strategy with the equity raising underpinning the acquisition of an increased interest in the Scarborough resource and its development, as well as progressing other projects in Woodside’s portfolio,” he said.

The offer, which is the first stage of Woodside’s A$2.5bn ($1.97bn) equity raising, closed on February 15 and raised gross proceeds of about A$1.57bn at A$27 per new share. It received strong support from existing institutional shareholders, Woodside said, with over 90% of those eligible electing to take up their entitlements.

The retail component of the offer will open on February 21 and is expected to close at 5pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time, March 7, the company said.

Under the retail entitlement offer, shareholders will be able to subscribe for one new share for every nine held at the same price as the institutional offer, to raise about A$0.96bn.

The acquisition of ExxonMobil’s 50% interest in the Scarborough field, subject to approvals and assuming no pre-emption by other interest holder BHP Billiton, will take Woodside’s interest to 75%. The funds are also intended to be used to support the Western Australian Browse project to Final Investment Decision and to help with the development of the SNE Field Phase 1 oil project offshore Senegal.