SPPs above $100 million in the Australian market

December 11, 2019

This list tracks the biggest share purchase plans conducted by ASX listed companies above $100 million.

1. ANZ, $2.2 billion in 2009: The offer document in 2009 mentioned a cap of $350 million following the $2.5 billion placement at $14.40 but the bank accepted all $2.2 billion worth of applications from 178,000 holders or some 40% of the register. See conclusion announcement.

2. CBA, $865 million in 2009: raised $865 million in March 2009 through a $10,000 SPP priced at $26. No target was set and all applications accepted in full. See results announcement.

3. Westpac, $770 million in 2019: raised $770 million in December 2009 through a $30,000 SPP priced at $24.20, a 2% discount to the VWAP, after an earlier $2 billion placement at $25.32. See results announcement.

4. NAB, $750 million in 2009: raised $750 million through a heavily scaled back $15,000 SPP in 2009 priced at $21.50. Total applications were worth $2.6 billion.

5. Macquarie Group, $679m in 2019: raised $679 million through an uncapped $15,000 SPP priced at $120. See announcement.

6. Macquarie Group, $669 million in 2009: was an uncapped $15,000 offer at at $26.60 in mid 2009. This followed a $540 million placement and also offered a 5% discount to VWAP. The SPP raised $669 million from 55,000 applicants which meant institutional holders were collectively diluted, in a very rare event. See outcome announcement.

7. Westpac, 2009: raised $442 million from a $10,000 SPP priced at the VWAP of $15.26 after a $2.5 billion placement at $16. Was targeting to raise $500 million. See outcome announcement.

8. Transurban, 2019: $320 million SPP after $500 million institutional placement.

9. NAB: raised $250 million in late 2008 through a $5000 SPP priced at $19.97 after a placement.

10. IAG, $236 million in 2014: raised $236 million in a $15,000 offer at $5.47 in January 2014.

QBE Insurance, $200 million in 2014: the pricing was very attractive at $10.20 and they were deluged with more than 50,000 applications, responding with an expansion of the $160 million cap to $200 million, but still leaving a lot heavily scaled back sharehoders. For instance, Stephen Mayne was allocated 1 new share.

AFIC, $185 million in 2015: offered a 2.5% discount to VWAP which came in at $5.88 and ended up attracting $184.7 million in applications. See announcement.

Brickworks, $175 million in 2010: raised $175 million through a $15,000 SPP at $12.40 in 2010 after the company left the door open so thousands of shareholders bought in before the record date. See conclusion announcement. The offer document made no reference to any cap and there was no preceding institutional placement.

AXA Asia Pacific Holdings, $166 million in 2009: The deal in 2009 involved a $500 million placement at $2.85 and then a $10,000 SPP limited to $185 million and under-written to $75 million. Commendably the offer document indicated any scale back would be driven by the size of an applicant's holding, but in the end they only received $166 million which was remarkably low given it was almost 40% in the money.

AFIC, $153 million in 2015: offered a 5% discount to VWAP which attracted a healthy $153.3 million in applications at the final price price of $5.51 per share. See announcement.

Elders, $150 million in 2009: There was $163 million in applications for the $20,000 offer at 15c, but the scale back to $150 million somehow only involved investors who applied for more than $20,000 worth of shares. See conclusion announcement.

CSL: did a $145 million SPP in 2008 when investors were limited to $5000 each. The issue price was $36.75. See announcement.

Graincorp, $138 million in 2009: Started with a $60 million placement at $6.25 and then raised $138 million in the SPP but was forced to scale back by the listing rule limit on SPPs expanding the capital base by more than 30%. See scale back announcement which gave smaller holders a fixed $7600 allocation and larger holders the full $15,000. The offer document identified no cap.

AMP, $134m in 2019: started with a $650m placement and then raised $134m through an SPP at $1.60 which only attracted applications from 2% of shareholders. See announcement.

Bluescope Steel, $113 million in 2009: Was priced at $3.10 or a 5% discount to VWAP after a $300 million placement and had a $250 million cap which would never have been reached given applicants were limited to $5000 each. Final price was $3.10 and full $113 million was accepted as almost 30,000 holders participated.

Asciano, $101.5 million in 2009: The SPP was priced at $1.10 and capped at $100 million after a $1.58 million institutional placement and circa $800 million entitlement offer, but after applications worth $290 million from 31,000 holders, this SPP cap was slightly increased to $101.5 million so all applications could receive 35% of their application. See conclusion announcement.

QBE, $100 million in 2009: The $100 million offer in early 2009 received $226 million in applications and QBE came up with a unique scale back formula.

AMP, $95.7 million in 2003: raised $85.7 million directly from retail shareholders at the offer price of $4.82 but picked up a truckload more based on an underwriting agreement with UBS. The pricing was based on a 5% discount to VWAP after the offer closed. See announcement. There was an earlier $1.2 billion institutional placement at $5.50 in May 2003.