Chronological list of 300+ >$20m post Covid-19 capital raisings

May 14, 2024: Coventry Group (CYG): initially sought $25 million in a placement plus a $2 million share purchase plan at $1.45 a share compared to the $1.47 last close, but then lifted the placement component to $30 million. The raising was to help fund a $42 million NZ acquisitions in the steel fasteners sector. Stock resumed at $1.63 so market strongly welcomed the acquisition. Market cap now up to $180m. Only has 1,600 holders so theoretical SPP maximum is just $48m.

May 10, 2024: Droneshield (DRO): announced a $70m placement at 80c, a massive 28.6% discount to the previous close of $1.12, and then upped it to $100 million after strong demand, even though this triggered the need for an EGM to approve the final $30m. Initially announced a miserable $5m SPP and then retained the cap but flagged an expansion to no more than $15 million in the SPP offer document. Market cap now above $700 million and with 12,000 holders, the theoretical cap for the SPP is $360 million.

May 10, 2024: Spartan Resources (SPR): the Perth-based gold miner and explorer (known as Gascoyne Resources until 2023) launched an $80 million raising, comprising a $47 million placement and a 1-for-17 non-renounceable to raise $33 million. Both were priced at 58c, an 11.5% discount to the previous close of 65.5c. Retail overs are capped at 50% over entitlement. The $69 million institutional component was in addition to a $33m sell-down by NRW Holdings. The CEO said there was "outstanding response" to the insto offer but there was no data provided to back this up. The company is capitalised at $650m and the stock resumed at ??. Disappointed that it ran a physical AGM at the Celtic Club in Perth on November 23, 2023.

May 6, 2024: Ansell (ANN): announced a $US640m acquisition of Kimberley Clarke's global PPE business which is being partly funded by a $400m placement at $22.45, a 6% discount to the previous close of $23.89, and a needlessly skinny $65m SPP at the same price, but at least the SPP has secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP if the stock tanks. The announcement committed to pro-rata allocation of the placement, which is good, and the placement represented 14% of issued capital, which was close to the 15% maximum. This should have been a $600 million PAITREO. Placement announcement outcome failed to say what proportion was taken up by existing holders. Stock was at $24.73 on April 19 so still comfortably in the money despite weaker market.

May 2, 2024: Next DC (NXT): announced a 1-for-6 non-renounceable at $15.40 to raise $1.321 billion to fund new data centres in Melbourne and Sydney. Was priced at a 7.84% discount to the previous close of $16.71 and transaction costs are a hefty $25 million. Overs are capped at 100% of entitlement. The under-writers are RBC and Morgan Stanley and they are sharing in a 1.55% fee with a 0.15% bonus if all goes well, which would bring in $22.45m based on 1.8%. Stock fell to $15.88 when trading resumed. How many of the 36,000 retail holders will participate in the $384m retail component after a 99% uptake of the $937m insto component. It closes on May 2. Stock had weakened to $15.74 by April 19.

25. April 25, 2025: Nick Scali (NCK): $46m placement at $13.25, a 5.8% discount to the previous close of $14.07 to help fund a UK acquisition. CEO Anthony Scali will be placed $4m of stock on the same terms if shareholders approved it at the October AGM. No sign of an SPP for retail holders.


24. April 23, 2024: WAM Microcap (WMI): announced its intention to raise $75 million through a $25m placement and $50m SPP at $1.455 but then repriced it near the end to $1.418 after the market weakened. Ended up closing the SPP a day early on April 23. The 2023 annual report disclosed it had 9,200 shareholders so the theoretical maximum in SPP applications was $276 million. Market cap was $317m at the close.

23. April 22, 2024: Heartland Group (HGH): the Kiwi firm launched a $NZ210m equity raise at the behest of banking regulators ahead of completing the acquisition of Challenger Bank Ltd from Challenger Group. The raising comprised a $NZ105m placement underwritten at $NZ1, an 18% discount to the previous close of $NZ1.22, and a 1-for-6.85 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $1 with retail overs limited to just 100% of entitlement. Have written to them requesting best practice transparency in tomorrow's outcome announcement. Got a good outcome as they announced a 98% take up by eligible institutions in the entitlement offer. The $NZ79m retail offer had an 81% take-up rate including $NZ14 million in overs.

22. April 16, 2024: Macquarie Technology Group (MAQ): $100m two-stage placement at $72.50, a 6.1% discount to the previous close of $77.21. No sign of any SPP for the disregarded 4000 retail shareholders. EGM for the majority of the placement scheduled for May. Stock closed at $82 on April 19 so market impressed with the deal.

21. April 16, 2024: Electro Optic Systems (EOS): launched an opportunistic $35m placement at $1.70, an 18.3% discount to the previous close of $2.08 after its share price soared on the back of new Ukraine-related defence contracts. As happens too often, The AFR's Street Talk column got the drop before any announcement to the ASX. No disclosure of participation rate by existing holders in the placement outcome announcement. Will be followed up a miserable $5m SPP with no VWAP pricing alternative. The company has 18,000 retail shareholders so the theoretical maximum in SPP applications is $540m. Stock was at $1.64 leading into the close so only $1.92 million came through from 202 shareholders.

20. April 12, 2024: Bluebet (BBT): completed a $20m placement at 21c ahead of merger with Betr. Insider Matt Tripp took 10% of the placement, which is partly subject to an EGM in late May. No sign of any SPP for long suffering retail holders. Stock had weakened to 22c by April 19.

19. April 10, 2024: Sovereign Cloud Holdings (SOV): announced a $30m raise backed by NextDC to complete 3 small acquisitions in the cyber security space costing up to $28 million in cash and shares. The raising was structured as a 2.95-for-1 renounceable at 3c, a 9.6% discount to the last close of 3.3c with up to 1 billion new shares to be issued. Major shareholder Next DC owns 33.6% and has committed to take up its full $10.1m entitlement plus up to $2.5m of the retail shortfall. Retail overs were unlimited but the take up rate was still only 32% and the $6.2m shortfall auction on April 12 cleared at the 3c offer price. Ord Minnett was sole under-writer and an EGM will be held on April 24 to approve aspects of the arrangement. The accelerated institutional component raised $21m but the take-up rate was only 53%. Stock had weakened to 2c by April 19.

18. April 8, 2024: Deep Yellow (DYL): another disappointing example of The AFR reporting the details of the ASX announcement before the company. The $250 million raising comprised a $220m placement at $1.225, a 3.9% discount to the previous close. $79.5m of the placement is subject to shareholder approval at an EGM on April 30. The first tranche of the placement raised $140.5m with no participation data disclosed. A $30m SPP for retail followed but there was no VWAP pricing protection. A total of $45 million came through the door so the board scaled it back to $30 million, claiming it was handled pro-rata. The wannabe uranium miner is capped at $970 million and with 16,000 retail shareholders there could up to $480 million in SPP applications. The company has a Namibian uranium operation and another uranium prospect in WA. Stock was at $1.35 on April 19, giving it a market cap of $1.2 billion.

17. April 8, 2024: PYC Therapeutics (PYC): announced a non-under-written 1-for-4 at 8c to raise a maximum of $74.6m. Chair Alan Tribe will take up his full $24.6m entitlement but there are no overs for retail shareholders. However, under S615 of the Corps Act, the directors have given Euroz Hartley 3 months to place any shortfall at no less than the 8c offer price and any premium achieved will be returned to the non-participants. There are around 3,200 retail shareholders. Went into the raising with 3.7 billion shares. Time for a 10-for-1 consolidation, perhaps? Market cap $317m based on 8c going into the raising. Claims to only have net equity of $30m in Feb 2024 accounts after accumulating losses of $133.2m. The market is clearly valuing the potential of its drug developments. Failed to detail percentage take up of institutional component which brought in $40m.

16. April 3, 2024: Syrah Resources (SYR): announced a $98 million raise comprising a $61 million placement and a $37 million non-renounceable entitlement offer on a 1-for-10.2 basis. Jarden underwrote both. The accelerated component raised $80.5m with a claimed participation rate of 85%. The shortfall was allocated at the offer price to unknown parties. The 55c offer price was a 21.4% discount to the last close. Australian Super used the raising to move from 17.8% to nearly 32%. Retail overs are capped at 100% of entitlement. See interesting Chanticleer column on its 8th raising in 9 years. The stock resumed trading at 52c, so the $18m retail offer was poorly supported with only $1.6m coming through the door.

15. March 18, 2024: Orica (ORI): announced a $1 billion acquisition which was funded by a $400m placement at $15.84, a 6% discount to the last close of $16.85, followed by a $65m SPP which included VWAP pricing based on a 2% discount. The market liked the deal as the shares rose marginally to $17 when trading resumed. Orica has around 35,000 shareholders so the theoretical maximum application is $1.05 billion. Wrote to the company requesting an expansion of the SPP, but they ignored it and retained the $65m cap despite receiving $100m in application from 5,700 holders. Gave them a whack in this Intelligent Investor column.

14. March 14, 2024: Lifestyle Communities (LIC): announced a $275m raising via a 1-for-6.08 non-renounceable at $16, a 7.4% discount to the previous close of $17.27. CEO James Kelly committed $10m and largest shareholder Australian Super under-wrote $40m of the retail offer, which will kick in given overs are banned. There was no specific disclosure about the take-up rate for the $201m institutional component and retail was sent this 60 page offer document. The company has around 4,000 retail shareholders but the stock had slipped to $15.67 by the long weekend so Australian Super lifted its stake from 9.5% to 14.77% after there was only a 17% take up of the $74m retail offer.

13. March 12, 2024: Dimerix (DXB): the Melbourne-based kidney disease remedy company completed a $20m placement to the big end of town at a zero discount of 30c but failed to follow through with an SPP for retail holders to participate on the same terms.

12. March 12, 2024: Genmin (GEN): the aspiring African iron ore miner announced a $28.3m raise comprising a two stage placement at 10c to raise $13.2m and a 1-for-3 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 10c to raise $15.1m. The new shares came with a variety of options at 20c and the entitlement offer had unlimited overs. Stock was at 18c on March 13. There was a 68% take up of the entitlement offer and the directors were attempting to place the shortfall before April 19.

11. March 7, 2024: 360 Capital REIT (TOT): launched a 0.8-for-1 non-renounceable at 40c, a hefty 26.6% discount to the previous close. The maximum raise was $46.8m but the fund only raised $25.5m after participation of 54.6%, the majority of which was from 29.5% controlling shareholder, 360 Capital Group. The rest lapsed due to lack of an under-writer or an overs facility, so retail got shafted by an excessively discounted offer and the controlling shareholder crept up the register at a big discount. Very disappointing Tony Pitt. The new stock will initially trade with a different ASX code because it won't be entitled to the next dividend. Another bad structuring call.

10. March 1, 2024: Metcash (MTS): announced 3 acquisitions in one day which are to be partially funded by a $300m placement at $3.35, an 8% discount to the previous close of $3.64, followed by a $25m SPP with secondary pricing based on the last 5 day VWAP. Disappointing that the SPP is less than 10% of the total $325m raising. Metcash has around 30,000 shareholders so the theoretical maximum SPP applications is $900 million. Sent a detailed email lobbying for transparency and fair treatment of retail. Not a bad result as the SPP was expanded from $25m to $60m after $153m came through the door from 9,305 applicants. The scale back was based on size of holding with a minimum allocation of $1000 for all so the smallest shareholders were also looked after.

9. February 26, 2024: BCI Minerals (BCI): launched a complicated $315m raising to fund its enormous Mardie salt project in WA comprising a $255m non-renounceable at 25c with unlimited overs for retail and a two-stage $60 million placement at 25c with the final $12.5m subject to shareholder approval given that 3 directors are participating, including former WA Premier Richard Court. Kerry Stokes went into the raising as the largest shareholder with 39.2% and committed to invest a further $100 million and Australian Super, the second largest shareholder with 14.7%, committed to take up its full entitlement and under-write the $114m retail offer to the tune of $112.5 million. The pricing was at 9.1% discount to the previous close of 27.5c. There was also a $25m convertible note conversion involving the 3 largest shareholders, the 3rd being Ryder Capital with 9.9%. Cannacord and Ord Minnett are running the deal and there will be an EGM on March 14. The stock resumed at 24c. There are around 8,000 retail shareholders which together only stumped up $5.6m leaving Australian Super to cut a big cheque to take up 432.2m shortfall shares, lifting its stake to 32%.

8. February 26, 2024: Propel Funeral Partners (PFP): $80m placement at $5.15, a 4.3% discount to the previous close, followed by an unfairly capped $10m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to the VWAP in the 5 days leading up to the Feb 26 close. With 4,200 retail shareholders, the theoretical maximum for SPP applications is $126 million. Stock was at $5.39 on Feb 15. More than 900 applicants offered up $20.5 million and the company accepted the lot, more than doubling the SPP and avoiding any scale back.

7. January 30, 2024: Evolution Mining (EVN): $525 million placement at $3.80 to fund acquisition of an 80% stake in the Northparkes copper gold mine near Parkes in NSW. Was priced at an 8.2% discount to the previous close and a $60m SPP will follow with secondary pricing based on a 2.5% discount to VWAP. With 33,000 shareholders, the theoretical maximum in applications is $990 million. Extended the closing date from Jan 16 until January 30 with this announcement on January 11. Ended up raising $32 million at $3.07, a solid 19.2% discount to the earlier placement price despite the broader market hitting record highs during the offer period.

6. January 30, 2024: Metrics Master Income Trust (MXT): the Perpetual managed credit fund raised $200 million through a placement at $2 and there is an uncapped SPP to come which this announcement to the ASX claimed could see as much as 264.9 million new shares issued at $2, raising $529.8 million. This suggests it has 17,660 eligible unitholders, who won't all apply of course. Stock was at $2.05 on December 31 and the SPP ended up raising $41.5 million. An earlier SPP in December also raised $34.6 million.

5. January 24, 2024: Peninsular Energy (PEN): went into a trading halt and then a leak to The AFR suggested it was $50m. Turns out it was a heavily discounted $50 million placement at 7.5c followed by a $10m SPP with participants being offered a free option at 10c with each 2 new shares bought. The SPP is delayed until after an EGM on January 10 to approve both components. The raising is to fund its US uranium mine. Stock was at 10.5c on December 31 and the offer finished well over-subscribed. No detail in the outcome announcement except a complicated scale back formula which was broadly based on how much you applied for, provided you owned more than 850 shares.

4. January 22, 2024: Arafura Rare Earths (ARU): completed an upsized $25 million placement at 16c on December 13 with a $10 million SPP to follow. The stock closed at 20c before the placement and resumed at 16c on December 14 so there was immediate value destruction. There is no secondary VWAP pricing on the SPP for the 30,000 retail holders. Gina Rinehart is the biggest shareholder with 10%. Stock was at 16.5c on December 31 and the company received $6.5 million from 710 applicants.

3. January 19, 2024: Sigma Healthcare (SIG): $400 million 1-for-1.85 non-renounceable at 70c to raise $400 million to partially pay the $700 million cash commitment to the Chemist Warehouse founders. The previous close was 76c. The $178 million accelerated institutional component was 92% subscribed. Overs for the $222 million retail offer are capped at a miserable 25% of entitlement which almost guarantees a large retail shortfall. Goldman Sachs is being paid a 1.5% fee excluding the 19% stake held by HMC Capital which has committed to take up the offer. The stock closed at $1.06 the day it resumed trading so retail offer should be well subscribed but needs good marketing to the 16,000 shareholders through the summer. Stock was at $1.005 on December 31 but the retail offer only finished 53% subscribed with just 4,200 applications for a total of $77m leaving a $69 million shortfall which went to the under-writers who are instantly $26 million in the money with the stock at 97c.

2. January 19, 2024: Atturra (ATA): launched a 1-for-4 non-renounceable at 80c to raise $50 million. The previous close was 79.5c so unusually bullish pricing which is explained by chairman Shan Kanji committing to take up his full $26.1m entitlement and under-write $10m of any shortfall. Retail overs were capped at 50% of entitlement and the $11m retail offer fell more than 90% short, but was picked up by the under-writers.

1. January 10, 2024: Tamboran Resources (TBN): announced a $28 million placement and a non-renounceable 1-for-6.2 entitlement offer on December 14 which regrettably was initially scheduled to close on January 3, although they extended this to January 10 in this December 28 announcement. Was priced at 16c, a 15.8% discount to the previous close of 19c. Stock was at 22.5c on December 31. The retail offer attracted 907 valid applications including 70.8 entitlements and 17.9m overs, raising $14.2m in total, lifting the overall raise for Beetaloo Basin gas expansion to $55 million.

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Total for 2023: 57 deals

December 22, 2023: Navigator Global Investments (NGI): launched a complicated raising of "up to $120 million" with the main component being a 1-for-2.53 non-renounceable to raise $96 million at $1, a hefty 19% discount to the previous close of $1.24. There is also a $24 million placement to a single convertible note holder at $1. There is a proportionate top-up component to the pro-rata offer which allows investors to retain their percentage holding before the raising was announced. The outcome announcement mentioned a 93% take-up rate as the rights issue raised $89 million and the convertible note offer hit $26 million. Stock was at $1.27 on December 31 so a good one to back.

December 15, 2023: Bubs Australia (BUB): completed a $14 million placement at 12.5c and then offered an SPP at the same price to raise up to $14 million more, but failed to offer a secondary VWAP-linked pricing mechanism so it fell flat with the stock trading at 11c a week out from the close. With 28,000 retail shareholders, the theoretical maximum in SPP applications is $840 million, but only $3.4 million came through the door with no disclosure of participation rates. Stock was at 13c on December 31.

December 14, 2023: IPD Group (IPG): $65 million raising to fund a $101 million cables acquisition off listed company Excelsior Capital (ECL) which will put the deal to a vote in mid-January. The raising comprises a $40 million placement and a $25 million 1-for-13.65 non-renounceable at $3.93, a 6.4% discount to the previous close of $4.20. IPD shares closed at $4.74 on December 1 so investors think it bought well. There was a 99% take-up of the institutional component. Bell Potter is the sole under-writer and retail overs have been limited to 100% of entitlement in the $7.7 million retail offer, which attracted $8.1 million comprising $5.1m in applications and $3m in overs, necessitating a modest scale back. Stock was at $4.82 on December 31 so an attractively priced raising.

December 14, 2023: Steadfast (SDF): completed a $280 million placement at $5.15, a 5% discount to the previous close of $5.41, after first announcing a floor price of $5.06. The raising was to fund a Queensland acquisition with an upfront cash payment of $148.5 million. Will be followed by a $30 million SPP which includes alternative pricing based on a 1% discount to VWAP. With 13,000 retail shareholders the theoretical maximum in applications is $390 million. The stock was at $5.72 on December 14 ahead of the close and the company received $80.7m in applications but scaled this back to $30 million with a formula that saw everyone receive $1000 worth of shares and then allocations handled based on the size of your holding. Stock was at $5.82 on December 31 so good deal for investors.

December 7, 2023: Healius (HLS): announced a $187m raising via a 1-for-3.65 non-renounceable at $1.20. The institutional component was 92% subscribed but the $33.5m retail offer attracted just $20.3 million in applications despite being well in the money. See 85 page retail offer document which needlessly limited "overs" to just just 25% of entitlement, attracting only $2.76 million of the retail applications. Stock was at $1.635 on December 31 so should have participated to avoid dilution.

December 6, 2023: Karoon Energy (KAR): announced a brave $1.152 billion oil field acquisition off Louisiana which was partly funded by a $170m placement and a $310 million 1-for-3.75 non-renounceable at $2.05, a 12.4% discount to the previous close of $2.34. The company claimed 95% take-up of the $214 million institutional component of the entitlement offer ahead of the $94 million retail offer. See 115 page retail offer document. Overs were needlessly capped at just 55% of entitlement and Macquarie was sole under-writer, pocketing an excessive 2.75% fee or some $13.2 million. The retail offer finished $74 million short with only $20 million or 22% of entitlements taken up. The TERP is $2.30 so there's a big recovery needed. Stock was back to $2.03 by December 31 so a poor deal so far.

December 4, 2023: Delta Lithium (DLI): a 2-for-7 non-renounceable at 46c to raise $70.2 million with Gina Rinehart and Mineral Resources collectively committing to take up their combined 22% entitlement. Mineral Resources under-wrote the rest and ended up picking up $21.7 million of the $28.4 million retail offer when only $5.7 million in applications came through the door, including $1 million for overs, which were limited to 100% of entitlement. Bell Potter managed the offer which was priced at an 11.5% discount to the previous close of 52c. Mineral Resources now owns more than 30%. Stock was at 47c on December 31, 2023 so line ball.

November 27, 2023: Fluence (FLC): raised $40.7 million in a messy debt reduction exercise which was twinned with major shareholder RSL dumping 165m shares at just 4c when the previous close was 14c. The company did a $19.8m placement at 12c but participants only paid 8c courtesy of the twinned cheaper RSL shares offered into the placement. There was also a 1-for-2.5 at 8c to raise $20.8m with $11.6m of this accelerated from institutions. The $9.2 million retail offer got messy, with only $2.5 million of applications and after a $400,000 shortfall placement at the 8c issue price, under-writer Bell Potter was left with $6.3 million shortfall. Stock was at 11.5c on December 31, 2023.

November 23, 2023: Treasury Wine Estates (TWE): a 1-for-9.45 PAITREO at $10.80 to raise $825 million to fund $1.6 billion US Wine acquisition. Priced at a 10.7% discount to the previous close of $12.10. The $604 million million institutional component was 78% subscribed and the shortfall cleared at $11.50 raising around $141.5 million with 70c per share or about $8.6 million million going to the non-participants. There was 6 days of rights trading on the $221 million million retail offer from November 9 until November 16 and the retail offer was open for a healthy 15 days from November 8 until November 23. The retail offer finished heavily short with 15,800 shareholders or 18% of the total taking up 23% of the available shares or $50.3 million with the $170 million shortfall failing to clear in the bookbuild leaving under-writers Macquarie and UBS with 16 million shares, as was noted in this announcement. This was another win for the non-participating instos who received 70c each, compared with nothing for retail. Stock was at $10.78 on December 31, 2023.

November 20, 2023: Bowen Coking Coal (BCB): a $50m raising comprising a $17m placement and a 1-for-6 non-renounceable at 9c, an 18% discount to the previous close of 11c. Went in with $31m in pre-commitments including $16m from new shareholder Hans Mende, a veteran of the coal scene. Overs were banned as the under-writers structured the discounted deal to dilute the circa 5,000 retail shareholders. No precise data in the institutional completion announcement and the 85 page retail offer document failed to explain why overs were banned. The $16m retail offer is under-written by Shaw & Partners and Petra Capital and predictably finished well short with $6.12 million in applications meaning the $10 million shortfall went to various insiders as detailed in this announcement. No detail was provided on participation numbers by retail. Stock was at 10c on December 31, so insiders marginally in front at the expense of retail.

November 20, 2023: Liontown Resources (LTR): $365m placement at $1.80, a 35.5% discount to the previous close of $2.79 to fund Kathleen Valley lithium project. Also a $10.8m conditional placement to director Tim Goyder along with a $45 million SPP at $1.80 or a 2% discount to VWAP, bringing the overall equity raising to $420 million. The placement completion announcement provided no detail on how allocations to existing holders were handled. Emailed requesting best practice participation data and they came up short, only disclosing that $13.8 million had come through the door with the pricing at $1.47. Stock was at $1.65 by year end so SPP in the money but placement not.

November 11, 2023: Wildcat Resources (WC8): $100m placement at 76c with no accompanying SPP. Stock was at 61c in mid-January.

November 2, 2023: Alpha HPA (A4N): joined the placement only shame file with a $40 million placement at 73c with no follow up SPP. Market cap was $760m by February 2024 when the stock was at 91c. Failed to offer a hybrid AGM in November 2023.

October 12, 2023: Star Entertainment (SGR): unveiled a $750m capital raising comprising a $161m placement at 60c and a 1-for-1.65 non-renounceable to raise $589m. The institutional component was only supported by 67% of eligible shareholders with billionaire Bruce Mathieson getting diluted down from 10% to about 6%. The accelerated component raised $565m with the $185 million under-written retail component falling 61% short after only $72m came through the door from 6,700 holders. Stock was at 52c on December 31, 2023 so both 2023 Star raisings were best to avoid at these prices.

October 3, 2023: Audinate (AD8): $50 million placement at $13 followed by a $20m SPP, which included secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP which didn't come into play. Was under-written by UBS and Cannacord and priced at a 9% discount to the previous close. With around 15,000 holders the theoretical maximum in SPP applications was $450 million. The offer was over-subscribed and they failed to lift the $20 million cap. No disclosure of participation numbers or total applications in this skinny SPP outcome announcement but the scale back formula saw everyone with more than 50 shares fully allocated and the rest dealt with pro-rata according to their holding. Stock was at $16.18 on December 31, 2023, so company is booming with a $1.35 billion market cap.

September 28, 2023: De Grey Mining (DEG): $300m two stage placement at $1.05, a 5.8% discount to the previous close of $1.115 with no sign of any retail offer. Stock was at $1.255 on December 31, 2023. Placement recipients in front from a company with a shocking record of failing to do SPPs after placements.

September 25, 2023: AMA Group: an emergency $55m raising comprising a $17.6m placement and a $37.4m 1-for-2.15 non-renounceable with overs of up to 200% for retail shareholders. Was priced at a 37% discount to the last trade of 12c and stock had hit 4.4c by September 15. The institutional component was 73.3% supported by existing holders. The $15.8m retail offer only attracted 300k from 79 applicants and the rest went to unhappy sub-under-writers. Stock was back to 7.1c by December 31 so a debacle all round.

September 25, 2023: Orora (ORA): announced a $2.15 billion glass acquisition in France which was funded by a $1.345 billion equity raising, comprising a $450 million placement at the fixed price of $2.70 and a 1-for-2.55 non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise $895 million, also at $2.70 a pop, a hefty 23.3% discount to the previous close of $3.52. With a 59% expansion in the shares on issue, this is heavily dilutive, particularly for the 45,000 shareholders who didn't get access to the placement. Retail overs were unfairly capped at just 50% of entitlement, so the retail component will probably fall short too, adding to the placement dilution. All up, a very poor offer when this should have been a PAITREO. Citi and Macquarie are being paid a 1.45% fee with board discretion to increase this by a further 0.35%. That is $19.5 million guaranteed with a potential additional $4.7 million and all for taking very little risk given the huge discount. This sucks. The accelerated $1.18 billion institutional component only saw 83% participation from eligible holders through the pro-rata component. The $227 million retail component was only 39% subscribed leaving a $138 million shortfall with the sub-underwriters. Outcome announcement delivered bare minimum participation data, despite a written request to be like companies on this best practice list. Stock was still underwater by 10c at $2.60 by December 31.

September 25, 2023: 29 Metals (29m): a 1-for-2.2 non-renounceable at 69c to raise $151 million and help the miner recover from the massive flood which over-ran its Capricorn copper mine in the Northern Territory un March last year. Retail overs are banned, which is all you need to know from this 91 page retail offer document. Macquarie and Jarden are the overpaid under-writers, sharing a 1% management fee and a 3.5% under-writing fee, excluding the $67.8m or 44.9% taken up by Owen Hegarty's private equity fund EMR. All up, the fees totalled $4.42 million with Macquarie pocketing 62.5% and Jarden 37.5%. At least the deal was only priced at an 8% discount to the previous close of 75c. The institutional component raised $122m and enjoyed a healthy 97% participation rate by eligible holders, largely thanks to EMR. The $29m retail offer only attracted $3.1m in applications but you wouldn't know it from this thin outcome announcement. This wouldn't have happened with unlimited retail overs but at least the entire retail shortfall went to existing insto holders. Stock was back level pegging at 69.4c on December 31, 2023.

September 22, 2023: Cyprium Metals (CYM): stock last traded at 11c, yet here they are doing a $25m placement at just 4c to help restart the Nifty open cut copper mine. Plenty of insiders participating, hence the need for shareholder approval at an EGM to be held on August 24. Once approved, there will be an additional 1-for-10.64 non-renounceable offer at 4c with unlimited overs. All participants will receive 1 free option for each 2 new shares to buy stock at 6c any time before December 31, 2024. Quite a breath-taking shafting of the existing 4,000 retail shareholders but that's the price you pay when recruiting new talent to re-start and refinance a moth-balled mining operation. Stock was at 30c on December 31, 2023 to was a boomer capital raising offer.

September 18, 2023: Next Science (NXS): main business is delivering medical solutions to prevent surgical and wound infections. As The AFR's Street Talk explained on August 29, it launched a $28.9 million raising split across five legs. Fund managers were offered shares in an $11.5 million single-tranche placement at 42¢ apiece or a 35.4 per cent discount to the last close. Canaccord Genuity and Wilsons Corporate Finance were joint lead managers. Billionaire Lang Walker went into the deal as the largest shareholder with 39% and as part of the deal he agreed to redeem his existing $10 million convertible note for $10.4 million worth of Next Science shares. This is subject to shareholder approval. Next up would be a roughly $2 million placement to US-based trade investors who were likely to be doctors. It is expected to be mopped up by September 18. The company's directors would tip in about $400,000 in a second tranche subject to shareholder approval slated for late October. And lastly, there's a $5 million share purchase plan for retail investors at the same price as the placement. The market wasn't told any of this before Street Talk as this August 29 trading halt revealed very little. Stock was at 34c on December 31, 2023 so investors are under-water.

September 15, 2023: APA Group (APA): $750m raising to fund $1.722b Alinta Energy Pilbara acquisition comprising a $675m placement at fixed price of $8.50, an 8.2% discount to the previous close of $9.26, followed by a needlessly capped $75m SPP at the placement price or a 2% discount to the VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer, which came in at $8.46 after 27,544 holders applied for $324 million worth of stock and were scaled back to $200 million. Applicants for $2500 or less received the lot and everyone else got pro rata above that. I wrote to the company pushing a pro-rata approach to institutional allocations and this was referenced in the placement outcome announcement. Should have been a floating placement price. APA has circa 90,000 retail holders so the theoretical maximum for applications is $2.7 billion and that original $75 million cap anticipated a miserable participation rate of just 2.78% assuming they all ask for 30k. Stock ended 2023 at $8.54 so acquisition has destroyed value.

September 5, 2023: Panoramic Resources (PAN): $40m two stage placement at 5c followed by a $5m SPP. Priced at a massive 45.7% discount to the previous close of 9.2c, although participants get 1 option for each 2 new shares priced at 7.5c for 2 years. The SPP was unusual because the announcement noted that over-subscriptions of $8 million are allowed and any more would require the consent of the under-writers. The SPP also had the options component. This outfit has more than $200m in accumulated losses and with 10,000 retail shareholders it could theoretically receive a maximum of $300m worth of SPP applications. In the end, they accepted all $5.92 million in applications from 625 participants with good disclosure in the outcome announcement. Curious that there were 4 different ticket clippers paid on this deal: Cannacord, Morgan, Foster and Azure Capital. Stock finished 2023 at 3c so big value destroyed.

August 21, 2023: Strandline Resources (STA): one of those Street Talk raisings where the ASX trading halt announcement gave no clue what was going on but The AFR reported on the same Friday that it was a $30m raising being put together by Barrenjoey, Morgans and Shaw. Was priced at 18c, an 18.2% discount to the previous close of 22c and was followed by a $5m SPP with no VWAP pricing alternative, which only pulled in $2.74 million with no disclosure on participation rates. Stock finished 2023 at 9c so participants heavily out of pocket.

August 11, 2023: Redflow (RFX): announced a 1-for-2 non-renounceable at 21c, a 9% discount to the previous close of 23c to raise $18.9 million before costs. Retail could apply for unlimited overs. Wasn't under-written but any brokers which handled applications were eligible for a 1.5% stamping fee. Extended the closing date from July 7 until July 28 through this announcement on July 4 and then extended again on July 25 until August 11. Ended up only raising $5.5 million as it was just 26% subscribed with no breakdown provided between entitlement and overs applications. Stock finished 2023 at 14c so raising was best avoided.

August 9, 2023: Pantoro (PNR): another one of those Street Talk raisings where the details of a $30m placement was leaked to the market when investors had only been told via the ASX that the suspension was for "a capital raising" with no details. A $30 million placement at 6c was then revealed but there was no follow up SPP for retail investors. The pricing was a 14.3% discount to the previous close of 7c and the stock had fallen to 5c by August 21. Stock finished 2023 at 5.2c so marginally under water.

August 8, 2023: Adriatic Metals (ADT): the dual listed silver miner in Bosnia and Serbia raised $US32 million in a placement at $3.30, matching the previous close. No SPP for retail shareholders. Stock finished 2023 at $3.95 so in the money.

July 27, 2023: Abacus Property Group/Abacus Storage King (ASK): Abacus has spun out its storage division into a new trust (ASK) and included a $225m raising from existing shareholders based on a 1-for-5.6 entitlement at $1.41 with unlimited overs. The NTA is $1.57. The institutional component raised $191m and determined the pricing via a bookbuild involving existing and new holders and the retail component raised $34 million. No breakdown provided on entitlement and overs components or the number of retail participants, but have requested this from the company. Stock was at $1.09 on December 31 so a shocker for investors.

July 26, 2023: Johns Lyng Group (JLG): $65 million floating price placement to fund two small acquisitions. Under-written at $5 which was priced at $5.15, a modest 5.2% discount to the previous close of $5.43. Not sure why a straightforward placement needed 3 ticket clippers in JP Morgan, Cannacord Genuity and Moelis. The follow on $5 million SPP has secondary VWAP pricing based on a 2% discount. Stock was at $5.32 on July 7 so SPP likely to be heavily over-subscribed given the company has almost 6,000 shareholders who could theoretically apply for $300 million worth of SPP stock. Have written to the company requesting an increase to at least $10m but they ignored it and stuck with the $5m cap despite $16m coming through the door. Scale back based on size of holding but no table explaining the allocations. Stock finished 2023 at $6.11 so a good raising to back.

July 12, 2023: Lindian Resources (LIN): $35m selective placement at 33c to help fund its rare earths project in Malawi. No sign of a Share Purchase Plan for its loyal but neglected retail shareholders who should be able to participate on the same terms. Was managed by Perth-based Euroz Hartley and announcement made reference to $15m being allocated via a "chairman's list". Stock last traded at 41.5c before the trading halt so executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga was dishing out plenty of value whilst shafting retail shareholders. Stock finished 2023 at 15c so a total dog.

July 6, 2023: Group 6 Metals (G6M): $27m placement followed by a $5m SPP ($3m under-written) at 14c, a 15% discount to the last trade. Offered an extra incentive of 2 options to buy shares at 21c for every 3 new shares received through until June 30, 2025. ASIC asked them to produce this supplementary prospectus and they extended the timetable by two weeks the day before the original scheduled close of June 22. Stock closed at 13c on June 30 so is underwater but existing shares don't have the options cherry on top. Did this June 30 update saying that $2.9m had already come through the door and shareholders could now apply for a maximum of $80,000. Eventually raised $3.7m with no disclosure on participation numbers. Board reserves the right to place the remaining $1.3m under the SPP cap over the next 3 months, even though it was only under-written to the tune of $3 million. Stock finished 2023 at 8.2c so not a great raising to back.

June 27, Infratil (IFT): announced an $NZ850 equity raising to help fund its $NZ1.8 billion acquisition of a 49.9% stake in One New Zealand from existing joint venture partner Brookfield, giving it 99.9% control of the data infrastructure player. The raising comprised a $NZ750 million placement at $NZ9.20, representing an 8.9% discount to the previous close of $NZ10.10, followed by a non-under-written $NZ100 million retail offer. The company attempted to allocate based on pro rata in both components with NZ retail investors permitted to apply for up to $NZ80,000 worth of stock and Australian shareholders $A45,000. There was no participation break-down in the placement completion announcement in terms of the percentage of eligible shareholders who took up the pro-rata share they were promised. The retail offer price was $NZ9.20 or a 2.5% discount to the VWAP leading into the close and the board had discretion to expand the $NZ100 million cap. Sydney-based Barrenjoey and UBS New Zealand were the joint under-writers and shared a 1.65% fee on the placement component, excluding the $43 million being taken up by existing shareholder and manager Morrison. I wrote to the company requesting better transparency in the retail outcome announcement, which commendably disclosed that it received $NZ320m of SPP applications from 27,983 applicants. The board sensibly expanded the cap to $NZ185 million which it said was driven by its desire to "allow shareholders to maintain their proportionate ownership following the equity raising". This goal also drove the scale back policy but with $NZ135m to be returned, there was still plenty of disappointed retail shareholders. The stock closed at $NZ10.15 on June 30 meaning the 10,000+ shareholders which didn't participate have lost out and been diluted without compensation. The latest annual report is clearly inaccurate on page 156 when it claims Infratil only has 21,824 shareholders when it claimed 27,983 participated. Stock finished 2023 at $A9.30 so a good raising to back.

June 26, 2023: Burgundy Diamonds (BDM): raised $231 million in a placement at 25c to buy a diamond mine in the Arctic Circle and then raised a further $3.7 million in an SPP which had a cap of $10 million but no VWAP discount. The lack of any paper offer may have contributed to the low SPP participation. Have written to the company requesting participation data on the SPP and the replied to say that 262 of the 1128 eligible shareholders participated or some 23%. After a long suspension, stock resumed trading at the 25c capital raising price, despite this upbeat interview CEO Kim Truter did with Alan Kohler on Eureka Report. Stock was at 18c on December 31 so one to avoid.

June 23, 2023 Immutep (IMM): an $80 million raising comprising a $50m placement and a $30m non-renounceable 1-for-7.6 at 26c, a 13.3% discount to the previous close of 30c. Three small cap brokers are on the job - Bell, Jefferies and Wilsons - and retail overs are limited to the lower of 100% of entitlement or $50,000, a good model which ensures high net worth retail investors don't scoop up large chunks of the shortfall. The retail offer attracted $6.5 million from 2009 participants, leaving it 47.1% short. The overs facilitiy brought in $1.8 million of this but no disclosure as to how many of the 2009 applications participated. Stock closed at 31c on June 30 giving it a market cap of $361m and a tidy profit for the unknown under-writers of the $6.3m retail shortfall who paid just 26c for their shares. Stock finished 2023 at 34.5c so participants marginally in front.

June 16, 2023: Impedimed (IPD): a $20 million placement at 13c followed by a $5 million SPP which they doubled to $10 million after $21 million came through the door. The scale back formula was a bit opaque with small shareholders zeroed, a minimum allocation of $1000 and then a pro rata allocation above that. Have asked the company how many shares you needed to own to get $1000 worth of shares rather than zero and how many you needed to own to receive the full $30,000 allocation. Stock finished 2023 at 14.5c so a dog for investors.

June 14, 2023: ZIP (ZIP): $24.7 million placement at 47c to help fund a buyout of convertible noteholders. Previous close was 50c so offer is at a 6% discount. No sign of an SPP for retail on the same terms. Goldman Sachs is all over both sides of the deal. It took 56 pages of ASX forms to explain and the Goldmans fee is 4% with a bonus of 0.5% all going well. Stock finished 2023 at 62c so okay to back this raising.

June 9, 2023: Santana Minerals (SMI): $15.5m placement at 6.25c, a 10.8% discount to the 5 day VWAP, followed by an uncapped SPP requiring electronic applications and with no VWAP alternative. Funds required for NZ gold project. Applied for $50 so far. Originally slated to close on June 2 but directors waited until the last day to extend for a week until June 9, citing recent assay results. Ended up receiving applications worth $1.96 million without disclosing the participation data. Stock finished 2023 at 9.9c so capital raising was a good one to back.

June 6, 2023: Appen (APX): a $60m raising, comprising a $21.2m placement at $1.85, a 19.6% discount to the last close of $2.30 on May 15. The balance is being raised from a 1-for-6 non-renounceable entitlement offer with no overs, which will dilute thousands of retail shareholders without compensation. The stock closed at $3.76 on June 2 so the capital raising was massively under-priced. Wrote to the company requesting a top up SPP for retail shareholders and strong marketing leading into the retail close to minimise the size of the retail shortfall going to the under-writers. They wrote-back saying a reminder email had been sent to shareholders. Nevertheless, the $29.5m retail offer finished 45% short as $15.6m came through the door and there was no transparency on participation numbers. Unknown under-writers picked up the shortfall stock at $1.85 which was a bargain with the stock at $2.84 on June 16. Stock finished 2023 at 63c so a complete dog of a raising for investors.

May 31, 2023: Next DC (NXT): 1-for-8 non-renounceable at $10.80 to raise $618 million for two new data centres with retail overs limited to 100% of application. The $416 million accelerated component was 99% subscribed and the $202 million retail component finished 13% or $22m short after $133 million in entitlement applications and $43 million of overs came through the door. The pricing was based on an 8.3% discount to the previous close of $11.78. The retail outcome announcement didn't mention how many of the retail shareholders were eligible or participated (including through the overs facility) but the company later disclosed that 8,677 participated and 37,616 were eligible, so the participation rate was 23%. Stock was at $13.75 by December 31, 2023 so a great raising for investors.

May 30, 2023: Calidus Resources (CAI): $23m placement at 21c, a 20.8% discount to the last traded price of 26.5c. Following by a $5m fixed price SPP sat 21c with no VWAP alternative. Contract miner McMahon Holdings has agreed to convert $10m of creditor debt into equity at the placement price. The WA gold producer and aspiring lithium player has around 6,300 shareholder so the theoretical maximum amount of SPP applications is $189 million. Stock was at 20c on May 8. Emailed requesting maximum participation transparency on May 31 and they came good, revealing that 162 of its 6,771 shareholders collectively contributed $1.75 million. Stock finished 2023 at 21.5c so best to have avoided this raising.

May 27, 2023: Sayona Mining (SYA): $200m placement at 18c, a 14.3% discount to the previous close of 21c, to pursue Canadian and WA lithium projects. No SPP for retail and EGM required to approve final $31m of the placement. Stock was at 18c on June 2, giving it a market cap of $1.63 billion after the issue of 1.111 billion new shares at 18c, on top of the 9.1 billion which were already on issue. Hvae written to the company requesting they propose a 10-for-1 consolidation at the next AGM. Petra Capital pocketed juicy underwriting and management fees of 3.5% with board discretion for an additional 0.5%, bringing the total to $8 million. Stock was at 7c on December 31 so raising was a dog but market cap still $600 million.

May 24, 2023: 4D Medical (4DX): raised $20m in a fixed price placement at 91c and claimed demand was "multiples times more than $20m". Well why is it a fixed price 20% discount when the last trade was $1.135? Let the market decide the price through a competitive bookbuild. The market cap of this lung scan diagnostics company was $334 million ahead of the offer and at least retail were offered a $15 million SPP at 91c or a 2.5% discount to the VWAP. They ended up accepting all $25m in SPP applications and the outcome announcement had excellent detail, disclosing that 1,129 of 8,286 eligible holders applied for stock. That's only 13.6% & still they were 66.6% over the cap. Placement participants were offered a free option at $1.365 for each 2 new shares subscribed which is not ideal as these sorts of schemes create multiple classes of shares. The capital raising was exclusively managed by Bell Financial Group, which censored capital raising debate at its recent AGM, as was spelt out in this Eureka Report column. Stock finished 2023 at 71c so was best to avoid this offer.

May 5, 2023: ERA (ERA): extraordinary 5-for-1 renounceable offer at 2c, a 90% discount to the previous close of 20c. Aiming to raise $369 million to fund the rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine which is now forecast to cost up to $2.2 billion. Rio Tinto could lift its stake from 86% to 89% if no-one else participates but there was a 98.5% take-up with the shortfall presumably coming from retail shareholders. Rio was not allowed to participate in the shortfall offer where Euroz attempted to sell the 275.8 million shortfall shares at a premium to the 2c offer price, but received no bids so the shortfall shares went to existing shareholders who applied for additional stock. Poor participation data in both outcome announcements and Rio rejected an email request to supply the data. Stock was at 3.7c by December 31, 2023 so was best to participate to avoid dilution.

May 3, 2023: Vulcan Energy (VUL): announced a $109 million placement at $5.10 but no sign of any SPP for retail shareholders. Typical for a Perth-based resources play. The placement was priced at 17.2% discount to the previous close of $6.16 and the stock settled at $5.15m by May 5 giving the lithium play a market cap of $883 million. Went into the offer with around 33,000 retail shareholders who should have been treated better. Placement was under-written by Cannacord Genuity and Bank of America Merrill Lynch which were paid 1.75% with a bonus 0.3% if all went well. That was a minimum of $1.9 million for minimum risk. Stock was at $2.84 on December 31 so a shocker for investors.

April 28, 2023: BKI Investment Company (BKI): launched an uncapped $30,000 SPP with a floating price based on either $1.67, which was a 3% discount to the previous trading period, or a 3% discount to the VWAP leading into the close. Made this separate announcement after close confirming the pricing was $1.66 and later announced it raised $73 million with no detail as to how many shareholders were eligible and how many participated, despite a specific request. The last annual reported it has 17,375 shareholders, making the theoretical maximum amount of applications $521 million or 14% of what came in. Stock finished 2023 at $1.77 so line ball.

April 26: Mesoblast (MSB): $US42.8 million placement at 85c, a hefty discount to the previous close of 99c, with no follow on SPP for retail holders. The main ASX announcement failed to mention the discount or the $US2.8m in costs which were disclosed in this ASX pro-forma. Stock crashed to 88c the next day and was down to 31c by December 31, 2023.

April 24: Carnaby Resources (CNB): raised $20m through a selective placement at $1.22 when it last traded at $1.47. No SPP for retail so a real shafting from under-writers Macquarie and Euroz. Stock finished 2023 at 79c so has been a dog for participants.

April 24, 2023: Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN): completed a $46m placement at $1.50 and now offering retail a $10m SPP at the same price with no VWAP alternative. See 69 page offer document. Ended up accepting all 528 applications and raised $8.7m with no scale back. All this outcome announcement needed, was the participation rate through disclosure of how many shareholders were entitled to participate. Stock finished 2023 at $1.37 so underwater.

April 19, 2023: Weebit Nano (WBT): initially raised $45m through a placement at $5, which was a 9.7% discount to the previous close of $5.54 and a whopping 30.2% discount to the 5 day VWAP of $7.61 as the share price tanked. This was followed by a $10 million SPP which was lifted to $15m SPP after $18.64 million came through the door from 1197 applicants, a participation rate of 9.8% given the offer was open to 12,185 shareholders. Excellent transparency in the outcome announcement and the scaleback was interesting with holders of less than 100 shares being zeroed and everyone else being scaled back by 11.3% of their application. Stock finished 2023 at $4.25 so underwater.

April 19, 2023: National Storage (NSR): a regular raiser which broke the REITs raising drought in March with a $300 million placement, followed by a $25 million SPP. The placement was under-written by Citi and JP Morgan at $2.33 and was offered in a range of $2.33 to $2.41, against a previous close of $2.51. It was priced at $2.41, the top of the range. Was followed by a $25 million SPP at the placement price with no VWAP alternative, which was expanded to $40.4 million when the board commendably decided to accept all applications. The under-writers were paid a 1.5% fee worth $4.5 million with potential for a 0.2% bonus worth another 600k if they perform well. Stock finished 2023 at $2.29 so line ball.

March 13, 2023: Star Entertainment: (SGR) $800 million emergency capital raising priced at $1.20, a 21% discount to the previous close of $1.52, comprising a $115 million placement and a 3-for-5 non-renounceable to raise $687 million. Two major shareholders (Chow Tai Fook and Far East) pre-committed $80 million to avoid dilution but came in through the retail offer timetable for probity reasons. There was a 94% take up of the $480 million institutional component of the entitlement offer with the shortfall offered to institutions with no compensation for non-participants. The $203 million retail offer did not allow applications for additional shares and predictably fell $96 million short as $107 million came through the door from 10,100 applicants. The 105 page retail offer document included 27 pages of hard to read power point slides outlining the key risks. Going into the raising, the circa 70,000 retail shareholders owned 30% of the company but collectively only took up 13.3% of the new shares so were diluted down to less than 25%. Barrenjoey and Macquarie shared the 1.9% fee on $720 million, which came to $13.7 million. Stock finished 2023 at 52c so a total dog for investors.

March 8, 2023: SRG Group (SRG): raised $51.4 million of equity to fund an $80m acquisition from ALS which comprised a $46.4m placement at 72c (a modest 4.6% discount to the previous close of 75.5c) followed by a $5 million SPP at 72c with no VWAP alternative.The capital raising was under-written by Barrenjoey with Shaw and Euroz-Hartley along for the ride with the Perth-based engineering services and asset management company. The outcome announcement was poor, only saying that that the SPP was over-subscribed, the $5 million cap wouldn't be lifted and the scale back would be based on size of holding. There was no table demonstrating the allocations and no data on how many shareholders were eligible or how many applied. Stock finished 2023 at 67c so marginally under-water.

February 24, 2023: Nickel Industries: (NIC) a big $673 million raise all of which is via selective placement at $1.02 per share, a 9% discount to the previous close of $1.12, except for the $29m SPP at the end, which was expanded to $34.56m to avoid any scale back. The 4 placements are $386m to the Shanghai Decent Investment conglomerate, a $285 million general placement, $21m for an entity called Shanghai Wanlu and $2m to non-executive director Mark Lochtenberg. The stock resumed trading at $1.03 on January 19 so the pricing looks okay and was back to 90c by mid May. Bell Potter, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are under-writing for a 2% fee. Stock finished 2023 at 69c so another poor raising for investors.

February 23, 2023: Talga Group (TLG): the emerging battery materials group raised $40 million through a placement managed by Euroz at $1.55, an 11.5% discount to the previous close of $1.75. Disgracefully there was no follow-up SPP for the company's 12,000 retail holders. There will be a physical only EGM on May 15 to refresh the placement capacity and appoint EY as auditor. See notice of meeting. Stock finished 2023 at 77c so a shocker for investors.

March 6, 2023: Flight Centre (FLT): announced a $180 million placement at $14.60, a 7.8% discount to the previous close of $15.83, followed by a $40 million SPP with secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP. The SPP was swamped by $350 million in applications from 19,304 of the eligible 104,719 shareholders so the board lifted the cap to $60 million and imposed a pro-rata scale back with everyone getting a minimum $511 worth of new shares. Stock had hit $19.45 by the time of the November AGM, so the Scott Dunn acquisition presumably performed well. The placement only represented 6.2% of issued capital but they still pursued a placement refresh resolution at the 2023 AGM, suggesting they may want to do another $1 billion placement. Stock finished 2023 at $20.36 so one of the best raisings of the year for investors.

February 7, 2023: Imdex (IMD): $224m equity raise under-written by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Euroz Hartleys to fund the $334m acquisition or a Norweigian drilling business. The raising comprises a $75m fixed price placement at $2.20, a 10.9% discount to the previous close of $2.47, and a 1-for-6 non-renounceable at the same price to raise $164 million. There's also a KMP conditional placement for some of the selling parties wishing to keep some skin in the game. The $110 million institutional component of the entitlement offer had a 97.3% take-up rate, which was logical given there was no compensation for non-participants. There was no SPP to compensate retail for the dilutions of the placement and the retail "overs" were limited to just 25% of entitlement so this was a very poorly structured raising for the 4,000 retail shareholders. Was a physical only AGM in Perth last October and no controlling shareholder with 5 instos above 5%. The $36 million retail offer outcome announcement had reasonable detail explaining that it was 50% subscribed and then a further 6% was taken up through the 25% overs facility, bringing total subscriptions to $20.5 million and leaving a $15.5 million shortfall. The offer was in the money and stock finished at $2.48 on February 10, so the shortfall was completely unnecessary and would have been avoided with an unlimited overs facility or something more generous such as 100% of entitlement. Emailed the company on January 19 and still haven't received a reply. Stock finished 2023 at $1.88 so a dud for investors.

January 23, 2023: BigTinCan (BTH): $30 million placement at 60c, a 16.5% discount to previous close of 72.5c, followed by a $5 million SPP with no VWAP alternative. This was complicated by a takeover bid by a shareholder that has board representation. The SPP only attracted 100 applications worth $321,000 and the stock at still at a discount of 54c on February 10. Stock finished 2023 at 18c so a dreadful raising for investors.

January 13, 2023: Bellevue Gold (BGL): the Perth-based miner was capitalised at $1.26 billion going into a $60 million placement which was priced at $1.05, a hefty 13.2% discount to the previous close of $1.21. Was followed by a $10m SPP for the 11,244 retail shareholders which is only 2.96% of the $337m theoretical maximum amount of applications. Placement under-written by Macquarie and Canaccord Genuity and substantial holders are Blackrock, Bank of Nova Scotia and Van Eck. Stock at $1.32 on the closing date so no surprise it was swamped by $59.25m in applications from 3,329 shareholders. Excellent transparency in this outcome announcement revealing the cap had been lifted to $25m with a minimum allocation of 1000 shares for everyone holding up to 3,400 shares, a full allocation for everyone with more than 96,594 shares and a sliding scale in between based on 29.18% of an applicants holding. All up, was a well handled outcome. Stock finished 2023 at $1.68 so one of the best raisings of the year.

Total for 2023: 56 deals

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December 30, 2022: Arafura Rare Earths (ARU): proposing to raise $121 million in a two stage placement at 37c to progress its Nolans project in the Northern Territory. Priced at a steep 16% discount to the previous close of 44c. Gina Rinehart stormed the discounted offer grabbing an 8.37% or 166.2 million shares costing $61.5 million. The placement comprises an initial $95.8m allocation using the 15% placement cap and the balance of $25.1 million is subject to shareholder approval. The 21,000 retail holders were initially limited to a token $12m SPP after being massively diluted when the theoretical maximum in applications is $630m or some 52.5 times that figure. Disgraceful. If Gina wanted to become the largest shareholder she should have paid a premium on market, not be handed the stock at a 16% discount! In the end, 5,510 shareholders applied for $81.5m worth of stock and the board only expanded the SPP cap by a miserable $8m to $20, meaning $61.5m was refunded, matching the figure that was selectively placed to Gina. The scale back formula saw everyone with less than 100 shares zeroed and everyone else received 26% of what they applied for. See SPP outcome announcement. Stock was at 20c on December 8.

December 22, 2022: Domino's (DMP): $150m placement at floor price of $65.05 with a $15m SPP to come. Placement ended up being priced at $66.38, matching the previous close, and SPP offered a 2% discount to VWAP. With 20,638 eligible shareholders, the theoretical maximum for applications is $619 million but only $18.93 million came through the door from 1,126 applicants and still they scaled it back to the capped amount of $15 million. Wrote to the company requesting transparency and an expanded cap. The participation data was good but the scale back was pathetic for a company capitalised at $5.85 billion. Final VWAP price was $64.54, a 2.77% of $1.84 discount to the placement price.

December 22, 2022: Red Dirt Metals (RDT): aspiring Perth-based lithium outfit unveiled $55m placement at 50c, an 11.5% discount to the previous close of 56.5c, with a $5m SPP to come. The placement is in two parts with $41.5m completed and the residual $13.5m subject to shareholder approval given the 15% annual limit on placements. There is a hard cap on the SPP with a threat of early closure once the $5m is reached. No VWAP alternative pricing on the SPP. With around 3,000 retail shareholders the theoretical maximum of applications was $90 million or some 18 times the hard cap, but with the stock trading in the mid-40s before the close, only $245,000 came through the door from perhaps 20 foolish participants. The stock finished at 45.5c on Friday, January 13.

December 19, 2022: Regal Investment Fund (RF1): completed a non-under-written $80m placement at the fixed price of $3.01, which was equal to NTA and a 7.1% discount to the previous close of $3.24, which was propped up by an ongoing on-market buyback which had amounted to $11.32 million since February. The placement was the maximum 15% of issued capital. The fund was capitalised at $572 million going into the offer and the placement will dilute the management team led by Phil King which owned just under 10%. Following up with a $30m SPP which has no VWAP alternative pricing. With 7,500 unitholders, the theoretical maximum in applications is $225 million, but only $12.38 million came through the door with no participation data disclosed.

December 15, 2022: Atturra (ATA): the software company announced a $25m two tier capital raising comprising a 1-for-7.5 non-renounceable at 85c, a 16% discount to the previous close of $1.01, and a $2.27m placement at the same price. The accelerated $19.7m institutional component was 86% subscribed and the $3m retail component allowed for 50% overs, but still finished 1.25m shares short despite being well in the money. Shaw and Morgans were the joint lead managers. Stock was 92.5c over Christmas so placement needlessly diluted retail. Next AGM is October 2023 and last year was fully virtual.

December 15, 2022: Marley Spoon (MMM): announced a $22.5m non-renounceable entitlement offer with unlimited overs based on 1-for-2.11 at 16.5c, which was equal to the previous close. Was under-written by Canaccord Genuity and Wilsons to $14.6m with the CEO and founder committing 750k. The institutional component raised $16.3 million but the $6.5 million retail offer fell short with only 450k in applications and no break-down of the overs, so under-writers picked up 2.48m shortfall shares and the total raising only comprised $16.7m.

December 15, 2022: Energy World Corp (EWC): $54.5 million 1-for-2.39 non-renounceable entitlement offer at the knock down price of 5c as it attempts to recommission its gas facility. Shareholders offered the extra incentive of 1 free option at 12c for each 10 new shares taken up. Produced this 58 page prospectus but no new ASX announcements since November 26. Stock was at 4c on December 12. Raising is not under-written but chairman Stewart Elliott has agreed to take up half his $19 million entitlement by reducing debt owed to his company.

December 14, 2022: Simonds Group (SIO): the struggling home builder announced a $25.5m 13-for-9 renounceable entitlement offer at 12c, which was a marginal discount to the previous close of 12.5c. Founder Gary Simonds initially under-wrote the lot, then this change was announced shortly before the close, so when independent shareholders only applied for $1.5m in stock (including 300k in overs), the founder only initially topped this up by $11.8m by taking up the shortfall but rejecting his own entitlements. However, a subsequent shortfall auction raised $400,000 and led to the full $25.5m being raised. The founder's stake was 46% going into the raising. Simonds floated at $1.78 in 2014 when the family pocketed $151 million so it has been a disaster for shareholders. Stock closed at 11.5c on December 20.

December 14, 2022: Whitefield (WHF): $30,000 SPP from the LIC with no associated placement. Priced at $5 or a 2.5% discount to VWAP. Capped at $50m. 8,000 shareholders so theoretical maximum is $240m. Ended up raising $22.5m at $4.96 with excellent participation data after they disclosed that 1,355 of the 7,883 holders participated.

December 13, 2022: Polynovo (PNV): $30 million placement at $1.90, which was priced at an excessive 10.5% discount to the previous close. The directors, including hyper-active chairman David Williams, have set aside $3 million for themselves which will have to be approved at an EGM early next year. The placement is being followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $17 million with no VWAP alternative. The stock closed at $1.94 on December 6 so the offer is likely to be over-subscribed given Polynovo has 22,000 retail shareholders. The theoretical maximum dollar figure for SPP applications is $660 million so the $17 million cap is only 2.57% of the theoretical maximum. Ended up receiving $35.3 million in applications and scaled this back to $20 million based on a pro rata allocation with no minimum. Good data on participation in disclosing that 2,725 shareholders applied for stock.

December 8, 2022: Sandfire Resources (SFR) 1-for-8.8 non-renounceable at $4.30 to raise $200m with Macquarie the sole overpaid under-writer taking a 2.65% fee. Priced at 10.2% discount to previous close of $4.79 with the raising designed to partially repay an ANZ debt facility which falls due on December 31. Institutional component raised $150m with 91% take up but non-participants received no compensation. The retail booklet ran to 100 pages for the $55m offer which was always well in the money. No ability for 15,000 retail holders to apply for additional shares and no disclosure of participation rate in outcome announcement after achieving impressive 66% take-up rate in dollar terms. Stock well in the money at $5.36 on December 16.

December 5, 2022: Resolute Mining (RSG): launched a 1-for-1.11 non-renounceable at 16c to initially raise $140 million, then bolted on a $41 million placement to US fund Condire giving them a 16% stake with board appointment rights. The institutional component of the entitlement offer raised $55 million with no compensation for non-participants and the coming $104m retail offer has a 78 page offer document and is under-written to the tune of $64 million. Overs were capped at 50% of entitlement when it should be unlimited but at there is some capacity to keep the shortfall within the retail class. Emailed the company requesting maximum transparency on the participation data but they failed to deliver only revealing that $44 million came through the door, leaving it $60 million short. Stock at 46c heading into the May 2023 AGM so retail were royally shafted.

November 30, 2022: Jervois Global (JRV): the dual-listed nickel and cobalt company launched a $231 million equity raising, primarily to fund the restart of its mothballed nickel plant in Brazil. The raising comprised a $113 million selective placement and a $118 million 1-for-5.42 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 42c, which was a 16.8% discount to the previous close of 50.5c. There was an 80% participation rate in the $64m institutional component of the entitlement offer. The retail offer was accompanied by an 80 page prospectus and overs for the 5,000 retail holders were banned, ensuring a sizeable shortfall for key under-writers like Australian Super. The retail outcome announcement disclosed that insiders and management contributed $2.31 million to the $54 million retail offer, with Australian Super shelling out $17 million on the retail shortfall, bringing its total contribution to $55.1 million and lifting its overall stake to about 18%. The stock had plunged to 29c by December 22, giving Australian Super solid capital losses and the company a market cap of $603 million. The upcoming AGM in May will be interesting.

November 30, 2022: Australian Strategic Materials (ASM): $30m placement at $1.73, a 12.4% discount to the previous close of $1.975, followed by a $4m placement to the chair requiring shareholder approval and a $10 million SPP with no VWAP alternative which was uncapped after the board elected to accept all $11.1 million in SPP applications without saying precisely how many shareholders participated.

November 24, 2022: Beston Global Food (BFC): completed a $28.3 million placement and entitlement offer at 2.5c after extending the retail close and blaming Link for technical issues. Included the maximum $3.3m placement with the rest coming from a 1-for-1 non renounceable priced at a ridiculous 59.7% discount to the previous close of 6.2c. Was under-written by MST and Shaw and attracted a 48% participation rate in terms of stock but no disclosure of how many of the long-suffering 3,500 shareholders participated. Stock was at 2c on December 5 giving it a market cap of $52 million. The 2021-22 annual report discloses accumulated losses of $113 million so puzzled why long-serving big talking chairman Roger Sexton, a former IOOF chair, is still there.

November 24, 2022: Global Lithium (GL1): raised $111.4 million through a placement at $2.25, a 13.8% discount to the previous close of $2.61, which was followed by a $10 million SPP at $2.25 with no VWAP alternative. Minerals Resources took up $19.6m of the placement, lifting its stake to 8%. The company has 6,000 retail shareholders so theoretical maximum application is $180m. Emailed the company on November 6 requesting expansion of the $10m cap and full disclosure of SPP participation data. They stuck with the $10.1m cap after $13.8m came through the door but pleased with the disclosure that 918 out of the 5,644 eligible holders applied and the scale back was generous to smaller holders with a minimum allocation of $7,500.

November 18, 2022: Eureka Group (EGH): a 1-for-4 non-renounceable at 47c to raise $28.2m with $23.8m through the institutional component but the institutional take-up rate was not disclosed. Under-written by Moelis and Taylor Collinson. The $4.6m retail component had unlimited overs for the 950 retail shareholders but stock was trading at a small discount leading into the close and it only attracted $80,000 in application leaving a $4.59 million shortfall with the under-writers, as was fully disclosed in this outcome announcement. Stock was at 42c on December 5 so remains under water.

November 10, 2022: Calix (CXL): initial capital raising was a $60m placement at $4.55 on October 19, an 11% discount to the previous close of $5.12. The two executive directors each sold an additional $1.2m worth of stock into the sale. Stock then tanked on October 28 after government cancelled $41m grant for carbon capture, use and storage projects. However, the subsequent $20m SPP had secondary pricing based on a 2.5% discount to VWAP. With almost 7,000 holders, the theoretical maximum application was almost $200m. Emailed the company on November 6 requesting expansion of cap and full disclosure of SPP participation data. Pleased they accepted all $21.6m in SPP applications with the final price being $4.24, a 21c or 4.6% discount to the $4.60 placement price. No participation data in the outcome announcement.

November 7, 2022: NIB (NHF): $150 million raising comprising a $135 million placement at a floor price of $6.90 which was the final price, followed by a $15m SPP at the lower of the placement price and a 2% discount to the VWAP. The annual report claims the company has 132,516 shareholders which means the theoretical maximum application is $3.975 billion and the capped amount of $15m only represents 0.37% of this amount or just $113 for each shareholder on average. Emailed the company on November 6 requesting expansion of the $15m cap and full disclosure of SPP participation data. Ended up being priced at $6.74 and accepted all $21.3m in applications without disclosing participation data.

November 4, 2022: De Grey Mining (DEG): announced a $130m placement at $1, an 8% discount to the previous close, followed by a $20m SPP. Surprisingly, this got scaled back to $18.7m even though applications exceeded $20m in the most targeted and detailed scale back description we've seen chasing allocations to tiny shareholders allegedly gaming the capital raisings system. Not sure why they bothered with a market cap of $1.9 billion but with the stock at $1.28, the SPP offer was nicely in the money. It looks even worse considering that the upcoming AGM on November 24 has resolutions seeking approval for the chair and a NED to be able to participate in the $1 a share placement to $50,000 and $150,000 respectively! Wonder if they were in on the SPP as well.

November 3, 2022: MC Mining (MCM): 1.01-for-1 at 20c to raise $40m with unlimited overs. Offered 200m new shares and received 107.6m in applications and impressively laid out the sub-underwriting details in this outcome announcement. AGM coming up in Joberg. Claims to have net assets of $US77m and has $US926m of accumulated losses. Stock trading at 19c after the offer.

November 3, 2022: MoneyMe (MME): $20m placement at 50c, a massive 28% discount to the previous close of 69c. $17.84m is unconditional with $2.16m requiring shareholder approval, including a $1.2m allocation to "certain directors". Promising a miserable $1.2m SPP for retail shareholders, the same amount allocated to certain directors. Barrenjoey underwrote placement. Claimed to have made a $20m profit but needed capital raise to satisfy capital requirements in warehouse facilities given rapid growth after buying SocietyOne. Stock at 37c on October 21. Announced on November 4 that SPP closed as planned with zero applications because there was no VWAP alternative.

October 31, 2022: Allegiance Coal (AHQ): announced an 8-for-5 renounceable entitlement offer at 5c to raise $33 million, with $15 million coming from the institutional component. The $18.6m retail offer raised $9 million including $1.31 million in overs and there was excellent transparency in the participation data and rights trading details. Subsequently placed $4.6m of the retail shortfall at 5c. Stock trading at 5c and capitalised at $46 million on November 25.

October 24, 2022: Talga (TLG): the emerging battery materials company announced a $22 million placement at $1.10, a hefty 17.2% discount to the previous close of $1.325, supported by Morgan Stanley and Euroz. It was accompanied by a $10 million SPP which closed early on October 24 after $10.2 million had been received when the original closing date was October 28. See announcement. Stock was at $1.76 in April 2023 so a boomer for all participants.

October 27, 2022: Red5 Ltd (RED): the emerging WA gold miner raised $60m in a two stage selective share placement to the big end of town at 16c and then proposed limiting retail investors to just $6m in the follow-up $30,000 SPP. Surely retail deserve more than just 9% of the $66m raise? Ended up uncapping the SPP and accepting all $8.9m in applications which came through the door.

October 26, 2022: Tulla Resources (TUL): two stage $20m placement at 38c with no sign of an SPP for retail. Stock at 37c on October 31 giving the stock a market cap of $100m.

October 12, 2022: Hastings Technology Metals (HAS): needed cash to develop its WA rare earths prospect and raised $100m in a big end of town placement at $4.40, a hefty 18.8% discount to the previous close of $5.42, followed by a $10m SPP for its 6,000 retail shareholders at the same price with no VWAP alternative. The placement breached the 15% limit, so shareholder approval was sought at an EGM on October 10. The placement was under-written by Barrenjoey and Canaccord but the SPP was not under-written and only raised $1 million.

October 6, 2022: Atlas Arteria (ALX): launched a 1-for-1.95 non-renounceable at $6.30 to raise $3.1 billion which is funding the proposed $US2 billion purchase of a 66.7% stake in a Chicago tollroad. Under-writers UBS and RBC were paid 1.75% in fees or $54m with a potential 0.15% bonus if they did a good job. The $2.5 billion institutional component was 93% subscribed with the shortfall going to unknown institutions at the same price with no compensation for non-participants. Retail overs were limited to 25% of entitlement and the $562 million retail offer fell 85% short with only 1,400 of the 22,400 eligible shareholders participating. 400 applied for overs but there was no breakdown on the dollars involved. The offer was priced at 17.2% discount to the previous close and subsequently traded at a discount but had recovered to $6.41 by October 21. For once, under-writers paid their way after finishing with $478 million of short-fall stock.

October 6, 2022 Pro-Pac Packaging (PPG): a heavily discounted 1.24-for-1 entitlement offer at 30c to raise $30 million with 97% take up by eligible institutional shareholders raising $23.6 million and the $6.4 million retail offer to come. Stock has ranged between $1.90 and 18c over the past 18 months but hit a recent crisis due to labour issues and surging resin prices which saw the CFO and CEO both exit the business and former GUD and Fletcher Building CEO Jonathan Ling step up as interim executive chairman. The retail offer has unlimited overs, plus is renounceable with the shortfall to be auctioned off in a bookbuild. Major shareholder, the Kin Group, is under-writing the issue. Stock at 30.5c on September 19.

October 4, 2022: Prescient Therapies (PTX): $8.7m SPP at 17.5c which was then followed by a $2.5m top-up placement. More companies should do this.

October 4, 2022: Aspen (APZ): raised $37.3m in total but only 950k came from the SPP at $1.58 which followed an earlier $36.3m placement.

October 3, 2022: Core Lithium (CXO): announced a $100m selective placement but no sign of any SPP for retail shareholders to participate on the same terms. Was priced at $1.03, a 6.8% discount to the previous close of $1.105.

September 27, 2022: Steadfast Group (SDF): $225m placement at a floor price of $5 followed by a $25m SPP at the placement price or a miserable 1% discount to VWAP. 9,000 retail shareholders limited to just 10% of the raise with JP Morgan and UBS under-writing. The placement ended up being priced at $5.14. There was only $8.4m in applications from an unknown number of retail shareholders for the SPP which was priced at $4.76.

September 27, 2022: Kalium Lakes (KLL): $22m two stage placement at 4c to help fund its potash mine followed by a $30,000 SPP of up to $8 million with no VWAP alternative. Stock at 5.1c on September 19. They ended up receiving $16.2m in applications and scaled this back to $12 million with holder of less than 100 shares getting zero and everyone else getting 75% of their application. Good transparency in outcome announcement.

September 26, 2022: Australian United Investments (AUI): the LIC offered a $30,000 SPP at the lower of $9.55 (a 3% discount to the previous close) or the VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer. Ended up bring priced at $9.41 but only brought in $6.9 million of applications from an unknown number of the 5713 registered shareholders.

September 26, 2022: Diversified United Investments (DUI): the LIC offered a $30,000 SPP at the lower of $4.69 (a 3% discount to the previous close) or the VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer. Ended up bring priced at $4.66 but only brought in $11.8 million of applications from an unknown number of the 7,760 registered shareholders.

September 24, 2022: Dicker Data (DDR): $50m placement at $10.30, a 10.3% discount to the previous close of $11.48, followed by a $10m SPP with no VWAP alternative.

September 15, 2022: The Market Herald (TMH): A $26.6m raising from the renamed HotCopper through a 2-for-5 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 34c which finished 81% subscribed. Funds were for expansion into auto classifieds.

September 12, 2022: Cleanaway (CWY): $300 million over-raising to fund a $169m acquisition comprising a $250m placement at $2.50, a 7.7% discount to the previous close of $2.71, followed by a $50m SPP at the lower of $2.50 or the 5 day VWAP with no discount. Received $190m in SPP applications from 16,727 shareholders and scaled this back to $50m with a minimum allocation of $1000 followed by pro-rata based on size of holding.

September 12, 2022: Tietto Minerals (TIE): the Perth-based aspiring West Africa gold producer did a $49.3 million placement to listed Chinese company Chifeng Gold at 58c, giving it a 7.9% stake in the company. Was priced at a healthy 6c premium to the previous close of 52c, so fine for retail not to be offered a compensating SPP.

September 8, 2022: Comet Ridge (COI): $24m placement at 17.5c to advance its Galilee Basin gas project in Queensland but no sign of an SPP for retail.

September 8, 2022: IperionX (IPX): the US-based but ASX listed company completed a $24m placement at 80c with Fidelity participating and a special meeting called to approve a director also participating but no sign of any SPP for retail.

September 8, 2022: Troy Resources (TRY): 1-for-1 non-underwritten entitlement offer at 2.2c to raise $37.3m with no accelerated institutional component, unlimited overs and a ridiculous 232 page prospectus. Shares in the aspiring Guyana gold miner have been suspended since August 30 last year and this debt for equity recapitalisation proposal was first announced in January this year. The latest results were a $12.2 million loss for the December half, which lifted accumulated losses to a staggering $457 million. The offer was extended a couple of times and ended up raising only $9.2 million which wasn't quite enough to satisfy ASX relisting requirements, hence the suspension was kicked into October.

September 7, 2022: Equity Trustees (EQT): $125m raising to fund a $135m acquisition off IOOF at the fixed price of $24, comprising a $40.4m placement and a 1-for-6 non-renounceable with overs capped at 50% of entitlement in the $35m retail component. Offer was priced at a skinny 5.7% discount to the previous close of $25.46 and was in the money a week out. The institutional component raised $49 million with an extraordinary 99% take-up rate. No word on where the shortfall went. Company declined a request to extend the needlessly tight retail timetable which saw the documents dispatched on August 29 ahead of a September 7 close. Retail offer attracted $20m in entitlement applications from 1331 applicants and $3m in overs for a total of $23m or 65% take-up rate with the $12m shortfall going to under-writers.

August 26, 2022: Orica (ORI): $650m fixed price placement at $16, a 7% discount to the previous close of $17.20, followed by an SPP capped at $75 million, which is way too low. The SPP also had a VWAP pricing alternative based on a 2% discount to the last 5 days leading up to the closing date, which ended up being $15.29 as $41 million came through the door from 8.7% of eligible shareholders.

August 18, 2022: DJW: standalone $30,000 SPP at $2.78 or a 2.5% discount to VWAP. Ended up being priced at $2.78 and attracted $63.5 million from 3,425 participants which was 20.8% of those eligible.

August 15, 2022: ANZ: a 1-for-15 PAITREO at $18.90 to raise $3.5 billion to fund $4.9b Suncorp Bank acquisition. Priced at a 12.7% discount to the previous close of $21.64 with UBS and Macquarie sharing the $43m under-writing fees based on a 1.25% cut. The $1.7b institutional component was 95% subscribed and the shortfall cleared at $21.65, raising around $93m with $2.75 per share or about $12.2m going to the non-participants. There was 13 days of rights trading on the $1.8b retail offer from July 21 until August 8, which closed on August 15. The $1.8 billion retail offer was 64% subscribed with 217,000 participants and it settled on August 23. Bizarrely, ANZ wasn't proposing compensating retail non-participants until September 9, as can be seen this letter sent to retail shareholders. Retail shortfall generated $4.10 payment to non-participating retail, which ended up being paid on September 1.

July 26, 2022: Bubs Australia (BUB): $63m raising coming off the back of all the Biden publicity. Priced at 52c, which was an 18.8% discount to the previous close of 64c and comprised a $32.4m placement and a 1-for-10.42 non-renounceable. Is a retail heavy register as the institutional component only raised $7.7m and the retail component targeted $22.9m, but only pulled in $6.6m with the balance of $16.3m going to the subbies. Citi and Bell Potter underwrote and there was no ability for retail to apply for overs. No disclosure of participation rate in the institutional outcome announcement and the retail outcome announcement only disclosed the dollar value of participation.

July 19, 2022: Electro Optic Systems (EOS): $15m placement at $1.20 in late June followed by a $2m SPP with no VWAP pricing alternative which only attracted $202,500 when 18,024 shareholders were eligible.

July 13, 2022: BWX (BWX): emergency $23.2m raising to pay down debt, comprising a $13.5m placement and a 1-for-10 to raise $9.7m. Both priced at 60c, a crushing 48.7% discount to the last trade of $1.17. The pro-rata offer attracted $7.6m in subscriptions plus "overs" worth 600k lifting the total to $8.2m which represented an 85% take-up rate. The balance went to under-writer Bell Potter. Overs should have been unlimited rather than restricted to 100% of entitlement. Stock suspended and last traded at 63c on September 26.

July 13, 2022: Carsales.com (CAR): launched a $1.207 billion non-renounceable 1-for-4.16 at $17.75, a 14.5% discount to the previous close of $20.76, to fund the full acquisition of US business Trader Interactive. No overs for the 20,000 retail investors so this is a serious regression from the $600m PAITREO it launched last year. There was a 90% take up of the $842 million insto component with the shortfall going to the under-writers. The $362m retail offer finished 49% short with only 8,000 of the 19,000 retail shareholders participating. See outcome announcement. This delivered a $10m-plus windfall to the sub-underwriters with the stock trading above $19 during much of the offer period, on top of the $24 million fee they shared with the under-writers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. See Crikey story summarising the rip-off.

July 12, 2022: Empire Energy (EEG): raised $27.5m in a placement at 22c and proposed raising a further $2.5m through an SPP which was meant to close on June 28 but was extended until July 12 in an announcement made at 5.30pm on June 27. This is poor practice for those who had already committed. Stock closed at 22c on June 27. There is one free option at 35c for each new share taken up in both the placement and the SPP.

July 7, 2022: Cooper Energy (COE): $244 million raising to help fund Orbost gas acquisition. Comprised an $84m placement and a $160m 2-for-5 non-renounceable at 24.5c, a 16% discount to the previous close. There was a healthy 95% participation rate in the $99m insto entitlement offer but the $61m retail offer fell badly short with only an 11.76% take up of the 248.8 million shares on offer. This left 219.57 million new shares in the hands of under-writers and their sub-under-writers. Retail overs were limited to just 50% of your pre-raising shareholding, which is an unusual measure given most companies go for a ratio of your entitlement. The disappointing outcome announcement failed to even provide a breakdown between entitlement and overs applications for the 29.28 million new retail shares which were taken up, let alone provide participation rate details which was probably below 10%.

May 27, 2022: AUB (AUB): the insurance company announced the $880m acquisition of UK insurance broker Tyser with funding partially coming from a $350m equity raising, comprising a $71 million institutional placement and a $279m 1-for-5.2 non-renounceable entitlement offer. Both were priced at $19.50, a 12.8% discount to the previous close of $22.36. Macquarie and Goldman Sachs were the under-writers. This should have been a PAITREO and they didn't even offer retail overs. The insto offer raised $232 million but was only 81% subscribed and the retail offer only raised $5.9 million, leaving a shortfall of $41 million with the under-writers.

May 20, 2022: Universal Biosensors (UBI): $5m placement and a $20m 1-for-6.85 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 77c with overs capped at 100% of entitlement. Luckily, Viburnum Funds under-wrote the lot because ordinary shareholders only applied for $69,000 worth of new shares leaving $19.9 million with the under-writer which lifted its stake from 15.5% to 25.5%.

May 17, 2022: Aeris Resources (AIS): effectively handed control to Soul Patts with this deal, which included the $234 million sale of Round Oak Minerals which saw Soul Patts emerge with 30%, plus $80m in cash which is being funded by $100m capital raising including a $44 million placement. The $26m retail offer was a 1-for-4.42 at the placement price of 10.5c with unlimited overs. It fell more than 90% short. See retail outcome announcement. There was an additional $17m placement proposed to fund manager Paradice, subject to shareholder approval. Stock was 40c on October 3 after a 7-for-1 consolidation on July 1 which was 5.71c in the old terms meaning investors have lost almost half their money.

May 17, 2022: Renascor Resources (RNU): $65 million placement at 27c, a 12.9% discount to the previous close, followed by a $10m SPP., which only raised $279,000 due to the lack of VWAP pricing.

May 11, 2022: Navigator Global Investments (NGI): did the maximum 15% placement to raise $47m at $1.55, an 11.4% discount to the previous close of $1.55. Followed by a $30,000 SPP for retail capped at $10m with secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP. Ended up banking $3.78 million at a price of $1.48 but provided no participation data.

May 6, 2022: Sunstone Metals (STM): $20 million placement at 6.7c, followed by a $4 million SPP which ended up raising $2.44 million.

May 4, 2020: Fone Zone (FZO): $42 million placement at 34c, a 17% discount to the previous close of 41c, to fund a Spanish acquisition. No SPP for retail but a special shareholder meeting was held so 3 directors could participate.

May 2, 2022, Kiland (KIL): the Kangaroo Island agriculture play announced a 7-for-11 non-renounceable at $1.10 (a 6% discount to the previous close of $1.17) to raise $32.4 million with the initial unusual rule that retail investors could apply for overs equivalent to 50% of their entitlement up to a maximum of $5 million. The offer was under-written by Aitken Murray and fully sub-underwritten by Samuel Terry and Soul Patts, which lifted its stake from 16.5% to 20.3% after the insto offer. Samuel Terry jumped from 34.4% to 43% after the insto offer. The institutional offer had a 77% participation rate and raised $24 million and the $7.7 million retail offer attracted applications for 3.067m in entitlement shares and 1.837m in overs for a total of $5.4m leaving a shortfall of $2.3 million. The retail outcome announcement mentioned a different overs rule requiring that no retail shareholder could finish with more than 20% of the company. This must have been aimed at Soul Patts which partially under-wrote the retail offer but was diluted down to 19.18%. Samuel Terry finished with 40.8%.

April 28, 2022, Domain Holdings (DHG): announced the $180 million acquisition of Realbase which is being funded by a 1-for-12.33 entitlement offer at $3.80 (a 5.2% discount to the previous close of $4.01) to raise precisely $180 million. 59% shareholder Nine Entertainment is fully under-writing the offer which means that it is pretty pointless that Domain is also paying Macquarie and UBS to under-write the offer. The institutional offer had a 96% take-up but the $18 million retail offer only had a 9% uptake and there was no participation data.

April 26, 2022, Paladin Energy (PDN): the Perth-based uranium miner completed a $200m insto placement at 72c, an 8.9% discount to the previous close of 79c, with a capped $15m SPP to come. The offer document reveals there is no VWAP discount and they refused to increase the $15m cap even when $105m came through the door from retail applicants. Poor transparency in this outcome announcement.

April 20, 2022, Abacus Property Group (ABP): $200m placement at $3.38 followed by an SPP which only raised $3.3 million because there was no VWAP pricing alternative when the stock wallowed below the offer price. This should be standard with SPPs and here are 25-plus examples of SPPs which were priced at a discount to the institutional placement courtesy of the secondary VWAP-related pricing mechanism.

April 19, 2022, Bannerman Energy (BMN): raised $40.7m through an insto placement at 22c when the stock last traded at 26.5c. Followed up with token $5m SPP, which was lifted to $15 million after $30 million came through the door. Scale back zeroed directors and applicants with less than 100 shares, fully allocated applicants in the first 4 days, gave a base allocation of $5,000 and 46% of the holding above that. A complicated but quite innovative scale back model. Stock was at $2.03 on Sept 19 after a 10-for-1 consolidation so investors underwater.

April 19, 2022: Black Cat Syndicate (BC8): completed a $35 million two stage placement at 55c, a steep discount to the previous close of 68c, to fund a gold acquisition but no sign of any SPP for retail even though some directors are topping up their investments.

April 14, 2022: Latin Resources (LRS): aspiring Perth-based Brazilian lithium player joined the retail rip off club with a $35m insto placement at 16c but no opportunity for mums and dads to participate through a Share Purchase Plan.

April 7, 2022: Boss Energy (BOE): $120 million two stage placement at $2.15 followed by ridiculously limited $5 million SPP with the maximum application capped at $20,000. Closed 3 days early after $17.4 million came through the door and scaled back to $5 million with no explanation of scale back formula.

April 6, 2022: Strandline Resources (STA): $50 million placement at 43c with no accompanying SPP for retail shareholders.

April 4, 2022: Mirrabooka (MIR): uncapped $30,000 SPP at $3.01 based on the very unusual pricing of a 10% discount to the VWAP over the last 5 days. However, participants only get 50% of the final dividend so the new shares will trade with a different code (MIR for a few weeks until it goes ex dividend in July. See outcome announcement disclosing that $42.2 million came through door from 2,069 applications, reflecting a participation rate of 27%.

April 1, 2022: ZIP: $30,000 SPP at $1.90 or a 2% discount to VWAP after recent $148 million placement to fund Sezzle merger. The shares tanked so the final SPP price was $1.48, a huge 22.1% discount to the placement price, and this brought in a healthy $24 million in applications.

March 31, 2022: Arizona Lithium (AZL): $32.5 million placement at 12.5c with no SPP for retail shareholders. Previous close was 15c but stock rose to 16c on the morning after the raise, so placement participants are well in front but 7,500 retail shareholders have been diluted.

March 29, 2022: Carnarvon Petroleum (CVN): $70 million insto placement at 30c with no follow through SPP for retail investors. Previous close was 33c and this was close to maximum 15%.

March 29, 2022, Tietto Minerals (TIE): Another capital raising shocker out of Perth as aspiring West African gold miner Tietto Minerals announced a two stage $130m placement to the big end of town whilst refusing to let retail investors participate through an SPP. Placement priced at 14.5% discount of 50c and second tranche is subject to shareholder approval.

March 28, 2022: Hastings Technology Metals (HAS): $40 million placement to fund manager L1 Capital at 25c with no follow through SPP for retail investors. This lifts L1's stake to 15.5%. The previous close was 26c, so the discount is 5.7% and the stock traded higher on the first day. Stock at 27c on April 8. Stock at $4.25 on Sept 20 after a 1-for-20 consolidation so equivalent to 21.25c.

March 24, 2022: Argo Investments (ARG): stand alone uncapped SPP at $9.30 or the VWAP with no discount. Ended up raising $191.8 million from 14,544 participants but outcome announcement declined to say how many shareholders were eligible to partake.

March 21, 2022: Stanmore Resources (SMR): 7-for-3 "renounceable" at $1.10 to raise $694 million with unlimited overs for the 861 retail shareholders in the $38 million retail offer. It was only renounceable in terms of rights trading as non-participating retail got no compensation for their rights. The retail offer attracted $23 million from 280 participants but finished $15 million short and this first went to those who applied for $4.9 million worth of overs with the balance of $10.1 million going to the lucky under-writers. Stock at $1.68 on April 8.

March 17, 2022: Orabanda (OBM): the gold miner scraped over the line with a $20 million capital raising, comprising a $5 million placement at 5c followed by a 4-for-13 non-renounceable entitlement offer which finished heavily short, leaving under-writer Euroz-Hartley to pick up the tab. The stock was trading at 7.7c before the raising.

March 2, 2022: Telix Pharmaceutical (TLX): raised $175m in a placement at $7.70 and then cancelled the subsequent SPP when the share price tanked and there was no VWAP equivalent. Stock at $5.63 on Sept 20.

February 28, 2022: Syrah Resources (SYR): a badly structured $250 million capital raising comprising a $125 million institutional placement at $1.48 (an excessive 10.3 per cent discount to the last trade of $1.65) and a $125 million 1-for-5.9 non-renounceable entitlement offer with retail limited to applying for additional shares of up to 50 per cent of their entitlement. There was only a 76% take-up of the $67 million institutional component of the entitlement offer with the $19 million shortfall going to unknown investors at the offer price. Instead, 15% shareholder Australian Super is getting a rails run courtesy of partially under-writing the retail offer which, if it comes into play, will see retail diluted without compensation. The 2021 annual report disclosed Syrah had 10,871 shareholders and they were offered $58 million worth of stock in the retail offer but only applied for 2 million shares costing $3 million, so there was a $53 million shortfall. Stock was at $1.40 on March 18 so everyone is a loser. Poor transparency in outcome announcement which didn't break down applications/overs or disclose participation numbers.

February 21, 2022: GenusPlus Group (GNP): raised $20 million in a placement at $1.21, a 10% discount to the previous close, but failed to offer retail an SPP. The offending brokers well Bell Potters and Hartleys.

February 21, 2022, Red Dirt Metals (RDT): did a $22 million placement to two offshore specialist resource funds as it pursues a lithium-gold project. The raising was priced at 51c, a 5.6% discount to the previous close, and the broker involved was Cannacord Genuity.

February 21, 2022, Auteco Minerals (AUT): did a $20 million placement at 8c to advance its Canadian gold project but failed to offer retail shareholders the same opportunity. Was priced at a hefty 13% discount to the previous close. The offending brokers were Cannacord Genuity and Shaw.

February 7, 2022: CSL: $30,000 SPP at $273 or a 2% discount to VWAP following a $6.3b placement to fund $16b Vifor acquisition. SPP capped at $750m with minimum application being $2500. The 2021 annual report says it has 234,460 shareholders so theoretical maximum application is just over $7 billion. They declined to disclosed how many shareholders were eligible in the outcome announcement but at least revealed that 56,180 applied, including 17,828 through custodians. It took them a full week to sort out after the February 7 close, but the SPP outcome announcement revealed the board decided to reject $192m of the $942.67m in applications by sticking rigidly to the $750m cap. No objections here given stock closed at $243 after the first day of SPP trading. Who wants to pay a premium for new shares? Scale back formula saw a minimum allocation of 9 shares costing $2,282 at the issue price of $253.57 (a 7.1% discount to the placement price) meaning those who applied for the $2500 minimum also received a refund of $217.87. After that, the scale back was pro rata based on size of holding and approximately 60% of applicants weren't scale back. The average application was $16,800. The placement comprised about 5% of CSL's issued capital at the time, so the pro-rata equivalent would have been a 1-for-20 entitlement offer. CSL revealed that only 6% of SPP applicants were diluted even after being allocated the full $30,000. These shareholders must have owned more than $600,000 worth of CSL shares going into the offer.

January 28, 2022: MA Financial (MAF): $30,000 SPP at $7.75 or a 2% discount to the 5 day VWAP. Capped at $10 million following a $100 million placement. Stock at $8.07 on Jan 27 so skinny margin. 2021 annual report disclosed 2,716 holders so maximum applications $81.5 million. Ended up doubling the cap to $20 million but still refunded $25.3 million after $45.3 million came through the door from 2,206 of the 3,379 eligible shareholders. This was a very healthy 65.3% take-up rate, particularly when the offer was only marginally in the money in the closing days.

January 20, 2022: Corporate Travel Management (CTD): $15,000 SPP at $21 or the 5 day VWAP with no discount. Capped at $25 million. This followed a $75 million placement to fund Helloworld Corporate acquisition. Good transparency in the outcome announcement which disclosed that 4,487 of the 15,539 (29%) eligible shareholders participated with the average application being $10,756. Disappointing they didn't lift the $25 million cap and refunded $23.6 million based on pro rata of existing holding but anyone with less than 5 shares got zeroed.

Total for 2022: 86 deals

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Only 60 $20m+ raisings in 2021

December 23, 2021: Focus Minerals (FML): the aspiring WA gold miner hoped to raise as much as $45.7 million but only $25.5 million came through the door for its 1-for-1 non-renounceable offer with unlimited overs at 25c. Controlling shareholder Shandong Minerals took up $22.63m of the offer, lifting its stake from 49.5% to 63.58%. Good disclosure of 384 participants in this outcome announcement.

December 17, 2021: BCI Minerals (BCI): $240 million placement at 43c with Kerry Stokes taking $103 million and Australian Super $72.5 million. Followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $20 million with precise disclosure that 7,282 shareholders were be eligible to participate. The outcome announcement disclosed that $20.64 million came through the door, there was no scale back but no detail either on how many shareholders applied.

December 15, 2021: GUD Holdings (GUD): $405m raising comprising a $120m fixed price placement at $10.40 and a 1-for-3.46 non-renounceable at $10.40 with overs limited to just 15% of entitlement. The insto component raised $170m with an 87% take-up from about 100 instos and the $115m retail offer finished $55.8 million short with only 400,000 shares in overs allocated courtesy of the ridiculous 15% limit. The offer was sent to 10,500 holders but only 3,331 participated with the average application being $17,000. The stock was at $12.11 on January 21 so retail shareholders were badly ripped off given the underwriters are now almost 20% or $10m in the money.

December 15, 2021: Pinnacle Investment Management (PNI): Raised $105m through a placement at $16.70 to purchase a private equity firm and followed up with an uncapped SPP at the same price or the 5 day VWAP with no discount. Ended up raising $6.78 million at $16.14, which was a 3.35% discount to the placement price.

December 10, 2021: AVZ Minerals (AVZ): $75 million placement at 50c with no follow-through SPP for retail.

November 26, 2021: Macquarie Group (MQG): Announced a $1.5 billion placement at the floor price of $190 coinciding with a record first half net profit of $2.04 billion. Placement ended up being priced at $194 with some good extra disclosure in the outcome announcement. Was followed by an uncapped $30,000 SPP at the lower of the placement price adjusted for the $2.72 interim dividend (record date November 9) or a 2% discount to the VWAP over the last 5 days of the SPP offer period. The pricing was $191.28 and $1.3 billion came through the door from more than 49,000 applicants but they failed to say how many shareholders were entitled to participate.

November 26, 2021: Plato Income Maximiser (PL8): $71m placement at $1.11 followed by a $50 million SPP which was expanded to $68.2m to avoid any scaleback, lifting the overall raising to $139.2 million and almost achieving the rare result of an SPP raising more the preceding placement. The SPP pricing was NTA linked and finished at $1.10 based on the closing date NTA.

November 19, 2021: Blackstone Minerals (BSX): $55 million placement at 58c followed by an overly restrictive $30,000 SPP capped at $5 million for retail shareholders. They accepted the full $5.3m which came through the door. Two years later and the stock finished 2023 at just 7c so a disaster for investors.

November 17, 2021: Ingenia (INA): announced a 1-for-4.24 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $6.12 to raise $485 million to fund a series of residential acquisitions. The offer was priced at a 6% discount to the previous close of $6.51 but thousands of retail shareholders will be diluted without compensation. The insto component raised $370 million with a 92% participation rate and the stock then rose marginally to $6.53 by Friday's close. The $115 million retail component will be shared across around 5,000 eligible shareholders with applicants entitled to apply for overs equivalent to just 15% of their entitlement. There will be challenges with Australia Post given they have gone for the minimum 9 days with the offer opening on November 8 and closing on November 17. Suspect the under-writers will pick up at least $30 million of discounted stock from retail investors who won't be compensated for their dilution.

November 12, 2021: Acorn Capital (ACQ): 1-for-4 entitlement offer at $1.60 to raise $27 million. Unlimited overs which saw $39 million come through the door from 1,121 applicants or 57.5% of shareholders. The scale back was done "on a proportional basis" but not really clear what that means. They should have broken down the entitlements and overs by both shares and shareholders. Two years later and the stock was under $1 at the end of 2023.

November 10, 2021: Impedimed (IPD): $35 million placement at the bizarre price of 15.25c followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $5 million. After $32 million came through the door from more than 1500 applicants, they only lifted the cap to $7.5 million. The scale back formula was a bit opaque with small shareholders zeroed, a minimum allocation of $1000 and then a pro rata allocation above that. Have asked the company how many shares you needed to own to get $1000 worth of shares rather than zero and how many you needed to own to receive the full $30,000 allocation. Fast forward to June 2023 and the stock was still only at 16c, although it got as low as 5c 7 months after the SPP, so the scramble for stock wasn't warranted.

November 8, 2021: Aristocrat Leisure: (ALL): Unveiled a 1-for-20.56 PAITREO at $41.85 to raise $1.3 billion and help fund the $5 billion acquisition of UK gaming technology company Playtech. The offer was priced at an 8.6% discount to the previous close of $45.79 and an 8.2% discount to the TERP of $45.61. The institutional component raised $895 million and was 92% subscribed with the small shortfall clearing an an impressive $47.10, an impressive $1.49 premium to the TERP which generated $5.25 in compensation for each renounced share. The $405 million retail offer closes on November 8 with retail rights trading running from October 21 to November.

November 5, 2021: Topshelf (TSI): the whisky outfit announced a $35 million raising at $1.60, a 12% discount to the previous close of $1.82. The offer comprised a $9.3m placement and a $26 million 1-for-3.1. The $13m retail component offered 50% overs and finished 68% short with no breakdown of the split between entitlement and overs. Two years later and the company finished 2023 at 22c, so a disaster for investors.

October 22, 2021: Silex Systems: Announced a $33m placement at $1.27 million which was followed by a $7m SPP which was in the money ahead of the close. It attracted $18 million from over 1000 applicants and the scale back to $7 million involved a flat $2000 allocation to a majority of applicants and a pro rata allocation above that. No disclosure as to what size of shareholding received more than $2000 worth of stock or what size received the full $30,000.

October 8, 2021: Transurban (TCL): $3.97 billion 1-for-9 PAITREO at $13 to fund $11.1 billion West-Connex acquisition, plus a sweetheart $250m placement to Australian Super at $13.07 when the previous close was $14.18 and the TERP $14.06. The institutional component of the PAITREO raised $2.9 billion with a 93% take-up rate and a 90c payment to non-participants. The $1068 million retail component comprised 27% of the PAITREO and raised $697m from 59,000 participants equating to 65% of the shares on offer with excellent transparency on the rights trading which was worth $8m, ranged between 53c and $1.18 and delivered an average VWAP of 87c. For those who waited until the end, the compensation payment was only 30c after the $380 million shortfall auction of 28.6 million securities cleared at $13.30 against a previous close of $13.56, which just happened to be a two month low. The circa 74,000 non-participating retail shareholders shared in $8.58 million. A good deal for instos, particularly Australian Super, given that instos ended up contributing $3.522 billion or 83.5% of the $4.22 billion raised when they started out with 73% of the company before the transaction. A win for non-participating instos as well which received 90c compo vs 30c for retail, ending a run of 3 wins for retail.

October 18: Dug Technology (DUG): $15m two stage placement at 90c followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $5m for retail. With around 1600 shareholders, the theoretical maximum is $48 million if they all apply. There is no VWAP alternative. The SPP offer document listed a range of factors that would drive any scale back policy such as size of holding, timing of application and any trades after the record date. In the end, only $1.7m in SPP applications came through the door.

October 16, 2021: Vulcan Energy (VUL): $200 million placement at $13.50, which was priced at a 15% discount to the previous close of $15.90. Followed up with a $30,000 SPP capped at $20 million at the same price with no VWAP alternative. Only raised $3.1m after the shares tanked.

October 13, 2021: Hotel Property Investments (HPI): raised $50 million in a placement at $3.40 followed by a $30,000 SPP which was capped at $10 million and raised $9.5m with no disclosure on participation numbers.

October 13, 2021: Sandfire Resources (SFR): announced $2.572 billion acquisition of MATSA, a Spanish copper mine, which is to partially funded by a $1.248 billion raising comprising a $285m placement at $5.40 and an accelerated 1-for-1 non-renounceable at $5.40 to raise $963 million. No overs and Australian Super under-wrote $150 million of the $322 million retail offer after taking $120m of the placement. The pricing was a 13.2% discount to the previous close of $6.22 and the TERP was $5.76 although the stock hit a low of $5.08 on October 7. No disclosure of the take-up rate in the $614 million accelerated institutional offer. The company has about 11,000 retail shareholders with Vanguard, FMR and Dimensional all sitting on around 5% before the acquisition was announced. Macquarie and Citi under-wrote the deal. The $285m placement represented 29.6% of existing capital and therefore required an ASX waiver which was granted because the 1-for-1 was fully under-written. The $321m retail offer fell heavily short with only $32.24 million coming through the door although the outcome announcement was threadbare on detail, not even pointing out the Aussie Super under-writing deal.

October 1, 2021: Neuren Pharmaceuticals (NEU): offered a $2m SPP at $2.05 after completing a $20m placement and accepted all over-subscriptions when $3.3m came through the door. Good work. The lucky participants have since seen the stock soar to more than $13 by May 2023 when it held its AGM.

September 8, 2021: Big Tin Can (BTH): originally announced a $135.3 million equity raising to fund a US acquisition, comprising a $21m placement to a US investor and a 1-for-4 non-renounceable to raise $114.3 million. Both issues were priced at $1.05, a 12% discount to the previous deal. The accelerated component of the entitlement offer attracted $58.4 million with no participation disclosure and a $1.2m additional placement was bolted on as part of this process, lifting the overall raising to $136.5 million. The $56 million retail component attracted $35 million in applications from 7,462 shareholders and the $21 million shortfall went to the under-writers. There was good transparency in the outcome announcement but retail should have been able to apply for overs.

September 23, 2021: BWX (BWX): Announced the $89 million purchase of a 50.1% stake in Go To Skincare which was funded by an $85 million placement at $4.85, an 8.7% discount to the previous close of $5.31. This was followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at just $15 million with no VWAP pricing alternative. BWX has 8800 shareholders so the theoretical maximum in SPP applications is $264 million. Only $9.97 million came through the door so no scale back.

August 20, 2021: Pointsbet (PBH): $400 million capital raising which includes some curious founder share selling and shuffling. Started with a $215 million placement at the fixed price of $10, an 11.4% discount to the previous close of $11.29. However, 3 of the founders agreed to sell a combined 2.9 million shares at the placement price of $10, with chairman Brett Patron writing out a cheque for $14.5 million to buy half of them and the other $14.5 million going to a single undisclosed institution. All this was separate to the $215 million placement. Then there was a $185 million 1-for-9 PAITREO at the chunky discount of $8. However, the placement was completed on July 30 whereas the $81 million accelerated institutional component of the PAITREO completed on Tuesday, August 3, when these are normally done simultaneously with a placement. Institutional participation was only 78% and the shortfall cleared at the institutional price of $10, raising $22.27 million in the bookbuild with 25% of that or some $2 a share being returned to non-participating shareholders. The $104 million retail component came with a 78 page offer document and closed on August 20, but it is not clear how much of that comprises founder/director entitlements. Chairman Brett Paton has agreed to take up $6 million worth of entitlement shares, in addition to the $14.5 million worth of stock he's buying from the founders, so his total spend is a chunky $20.5 million. Paton went into the offer owning 13.034 million shares or some 6.27% of the company and was entitled to buy 1.45 million shares for $11.6 million but only spent $6 million through the institutional offer so he would have received $1.4 million in compensation for the 700,000 entitlements that he sold into the shortfall offer. He now owns 15.28 million shares or some 6.05% of the 252.5 million shares on issue. The outcome announcement confirmed that retail investors took up $64.2 million worth of shares or 61.7% of what was on offer. The retail shortfall cleared at $10.30 so non participants received $2.30, a 30c premium to the institutional shortfall. Stock was at $1.93 on September 19, 2022.

August 20, 2021: Evolution Mining (EVN): completed a $400 million institutional placement at $3.85, a 5.4% discount to the previous close of $4.07 to fund a $400 million gold acquisition near Kalgoorlie. Followed up with a tokenistic $30,000 SPP capped at $50 million. There is an alternative to the $3.85 placement price based on 2.5% discount to the VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer. The company has about 17,000 shareholders and 8,647 ended up applying for $132 million worth of stock, an average application of $15,265. The board expanded the cap to $68 million but still ended up refunding $55 million with the formula being that all applicants received the first $2500 and then anyone who applied for more than that received 50%. For instance, I applied for $10,000 worth of stock and was allocated $5000. Stock was at $1.90 on September 19, 2022.

August 20, 2021: Family Zone (FZO): $146.4 million raising to fund a UK acquisition, comprising a $71m placement at 55c and a 5-for-16 non-renounceable at 55c to raise $75.3 million. The pre-raising split between retail and institutions was approximately 50-50. The retail offer ended up raising $24.5 million which was a healthy 76% of the shares on offer and the shortfall was picked up by under-writers so the overall raising ended up being $122 million from institutions and just 16.7% or $24.5 million from retail investors.

August 19, 2021: Aroa Biosurgery (ARX): raised $47m through a placement at $1.165, a 1.7% discount to the previous close, and then offered a miserable $5m SPP to retail on the same terms with no VWAP discount and limited to just 15k per applicant. Wrote to the company requesting participation transparency. None was forthcoming as the SPP only raised $400,000 because it was out of the money without the reassurance of a secondary VWAP pricing offer.

August 18, 2021: Imugene (IMU): $90m placement at 30c followed with a 1 for 2 free option at 45c. Followed by a $15,000 SPP capped at $5m with no VWAP alternative. The SPP was heavily scaled back with no detail of total applications, except that all applicants received a minimum $1000 allocation and after that it was based on size of holding. Stock was at 40c on September 10 and with 7,700 holdings, the theoretical maximum for the SPP was $115 million so a heavy scale back was always inevitable.

August 13, 2021: Arafura Resources (ARU): $30,000 SPP at 12c after $40m placement. SPP offer to around 11,000 shareholders was capped at $5.5 million and $16.8 million came through the door from 1412 applicants even though it was closed 10 days early. The scale back formula saw holders of less than 500 shares zeroed, anyone who held between 501 and 2500 shares received a $1000 allocation and everyone else received 41.6% of their application. So if you started with an unmarketable parcel of 2600 shares worth $312 at the 12c offer price and applied for the full $30,000, you were allocated $12,480 worth of shares. This doesn't seem fair. It would have made more sense to allocate pro-rata based on the size of your holdings. Stock was at 14.5c a week after the SPP closed so participants did well.

August 13, 2021: Whitefield (WHF): the LIC raised $50 million from sophisticated investors in a placement priced at $5.56, which was followed up by a $30,000 SPP for retail capped at $55.6 million, in a rare example where the SPP is planned to be larger than the placement. The SPP also offered a 2.5% discount to VWAP and was priced at $5.52. Ended up raising $26 million with excellent transparency in the outcome announcement which disclosed that 1,660 of the 6,417 eligible shareholders applied for the offer, participation rate of 26% with the average application being $15,674.

August 6, 2021: Seafarms Group (SFG): unveiled a heavily discounted $92.5 million institutional placement on June 23 with a $15 million SPP at the same price of 5.5c to follow, which finished under-subscribed given the share price traded at around 5c during most of the offer period. The SPP raised $8.7 million with poor participation disclosure in the outcome announcement and the balance of the targeted $15 million was placed with "sophisticated" investors.

August 6, 2021: WAM Leaders (WLE): 1-for-5 non-renounceable at $1.44 to raise up to $241 million with unlimited overs. Unusually, went into a trading halt on August 10, 4 days after the offer closed, to conduct a placement of the $47.4 million shortfall, but demand was so strong it ended up bolting on an additional 25 million share placement to lift the shortfall/placement component to $83.6 million from more than 650 applicants and the overall raising to $277.2 million. Embraced excellent transparency in the outcome announcement so we know 10,321 of the approximately 20,000 eligible shareholders took up $145.8 million worth of the entitlements or some 60.5% in dollar terms and a narrow majority in shareholder terms. The Top-Up facility was fully allocated with 3,416 shareholders applying for $47.8 million worth of shares, equating to 24.6% of total applications and 33% by shareholder number suggesting it was the smaller shareholders who disproportionately applied for overs. The average entitlement application was $14,126, the average overs application $13993 and the average placement allocation $128,515. All up, 192.5 million new shares were issued, expanding the capital base by 24.7% to 972 million.

August 4, 2021: Rex Minerals (RXM): announced a $50 million placement at 30c, a 16.6% discount to the previous close, but then failed to follow through with an SPP on the same terms for retail shareholders. Macquarie and Euro Hartley were the overpaid advisers complicit with diluting retail investors.

July 13, 2021: Catapult Group (CAT): announced a $US40 million capital raising to fund a UK sports analytics and video acquisition, comprising a $US35 million under-written placement at $1.90 and a $30,000 SPP at the same price to raise up to $US5 million. There were approximately 10,000 eligible shareholders but only about 1200 shareholders participated. The SPP cap was lifted to $US8.5 million and there was a novel scale back policy where anyone who sold out before the SPP close date received a zero application and everyone else received more than 90%. The stock dipped to $1.72 on July 30 so those who were zeroed were lucky in hindsight.

June 22, 2021: Dacian Gold (DCN): $30,000 SPP at 28c after earlier $40 million placement at 28c. SPP capped at $5 million, but only $3.7 million came through the door as it was barely in the money.

June 21, 2021: Mystate (MYS): raised $20 million through a placement at $4.30, then offered a non-renounceable 1-for-6.6 at $4.30 to raise up to $60 million, although it was only under-written to the tune of $30 million and there were no overs so it will fall short. Stock was above $5 leading into the June 21 close so non-participating retail left almost 20% on the table. The accelerated institutional take up was $11.3 million and the retail take-up was $24.2 million, leaving a shortfall of $25.5 million which wasn't under-written. Poor participation disclosure in the outcome announcement, despite requests to be more transparent.

June 7, 2021: Pendal Group: (PDL) uncapped $30,000 SPP at $6.80 or the VWAP after $190 million placement at $6.80 to fund a US acquisition. Ended up accepting $190 million of the $213 million which came through the door for the SPP.

June 2, 2021: Carsales (CAR): $600 million 1-for-7 PAITREO at $17 a share to fund a US acquisition. The institutional component raised $428 million with the shortfall clearing at $18 a share, generating a $1 compensation payment although there was no precise disclosure on the size of the shortfall with the company quoting a figure of 83% participation excluding two individuals and 99% when measuring just Australian institutions. The $172 million retail offer had rights trading from May 17 until May 26. The offer was open for 14 days from May 19 until June 2. Outcome announcement disclosed that 8,300 of the 18,500 eligible shareholders participated to the tune of 67% or $115 million. The retail shortfall cleared at $18.60, a 30c discount to the previous close of $18.90 so a win for retail which received $1.60 in compensation compared with $1 for the instos.

May 10, 2021: Empire Energy (EEG): $30 million placement at 30c to fund an acquisition in the Northern Territory followed by a $3 million SPP which was doubled to $6 million after more than 400 shareholder applied but there was no disclosure of total applications or the scale back formula.

May 17, 2021: Seven Group Holdings (SVW): $500 million placement at $22.50 with Macquarie and Jarden pocketing the 1.75% under-writing and management fee, which amounted to $8.75 million. Unfairly restricted $50 million SPP to follow at $22.50 or a 2.5% discount to VWAP. SPP ended up raising $33.14 million and being priced at $19.73, so retail received a 12.3% discount.

May 11, 2021: Vimy Resources: $18.5 million placement at 11c followed by an SPP which was initially capped at $2.5 million but eventually raised $9 million after strong demand of more than $17 million and a lift in the cap.

May 8, 2021: Homeco Daily Needs REIT: (HDN): $265 million 1-for-2.95 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $1.295 with a 1-for-20 bonus share thrown in. The $93 million insto component was 96.7% subscribed and the $175 million retail offer was 64% supported with the $63 million shortfall allocated to institutional under-writers with no compensation to non-participating retail.

May 7, 2021: Strike Energy, (STX): Launched an $80 million capital raising at a 20% discount of 30c to advance its WA gas project, comprising a $75 million placement and a $5 million SPP, which didn't have a VWAP alternative. Closed it early on May 3 after $30 million came through the door in 7 days from 1500 applicants and then they doubled it to $10 million with a scale back model based on size of application so those who applied for $30,000 got a $10,000 allocation.

May 5, 2021: Regis Resources (RRL): launched a $650 million raising to fund the $903 purchase of a 30% stake in the Tropicano gold mine. The full raising had a fixed price of $2.70 which was a hefty 14.8% discount to the previous close of $3.17. It comprised a $200 million placement at $2.70, followed by a 1-for-3.08 non-renounceable with overs capped at 50% of entitlement, meaning a retail shortfall is quite likely. The retail offer runs for 15 days from April 20 until May 5. The $294 million institutional component was supported by 86% of eligible shareholders.

April 20, 2021: Western Areas (WSA): $30,000 SPP at $2.05 after $85m placement at the same price. No VWAP alternative. Closing date was extended by 2 weeks with Australia Post's poor performance mentioned as one of the reasons.

April 19, 2021: Computershare, (CPU): $835 million 1-for-8.8 PAITREO raising to fund a US acquisition. Was priced at $13.55, a 9.6% discount to the previous close of $14.99. Retail investors had 19 days to consider the offer and retail rights trading ran from March 29 until 12 April. The institutional component raised $500 million with a 94% take up rate and the 6% shortfall worth $30 million cleared at $15.05, generating a $1.50 premium payment to non-participants. The $150 million retail shortfall cleared at $14.55, generating a $1 per share premium payment for the 21,000 shareholders who did not participate.

April 15, 2021: ZIP (Z1P): the emerging buy now pay later outfit launched a $120m placement at $9.18, a 4.5% discount to the previous close, in conjunction with a $400m zero coupon convertible note, which was similar to what Afterpay did. The two founders sold 2 million shares into the placement. No sign of any SPP for retail.

April 14, 2021: Australian Strategic Materials (ASM): raised $65 million in a placement at $4.80 a share and also announced a 1-for-14 non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise up to $41 million at the same price. There were no overs and only $29.6 million came through the door so the overall raising was $92 million. The stock subsequently soared to more than $10 million so any of the 10,000 shareholders who missed out on the placement or didn't take up the entitlement offer was badly diluted without compensation. Retail are definitely owed an SPP here.

March 29, 2021: Boss (BOE): $60 million placement at 14c with no accompanying SPP.

March 18, 2021: Deep Yellow (DYL): the aspiring uranium miner raised $40.8 million through an institutional placement at 65c and followed up with $2 million SPP at the same price with no VWAP alternative. Stock closed at 72c on last day. SPP was heavily over-subscribed as $7.42 million came through the door. No increase in the cap and scale back was based on size of application with everyone getting 27% of what they asked for with no minimum allocation.

March 17, 2021: WAM Active (WAA): stand lone SPP at $1.08 which, including an associated placement, brought in $25.2 million from 840 participants. See SPP outcome announcement.

March 10, 2021: Bank of Queensland: $1.35 billion raising to fund $1.325 billion acquisition of Members Equity, comprising a $350m placement at $7.35 and a 1-for-3.34 non-renounceable at the same price. The institutional component raised $323 million with a 98% take up and the $682 million retail offer included an overs facility capped at 35% of entitlement. The stock was above $9 leading into the close so should have been fully subscribed but timetable was so tight that many investors didn't receive the offer document in time to ended up only receiving $408 million in applications, including $72 million in overs. No reminder email was sent to the roughly 57,000 shareholders who had provided BoQ with their email address.

February 22, 2021: Djerriwarrh (DJW): standalone $30,000 SPP at $2.98 or a 5% discount to VWAP but applicants only get 50% of the final dividend payable in early 2021-22. Was priced at $2.85 under the VWAP and received $31.1 million from 1,959 applicants which were accepted in full given cap was $40 million.

February 15, 2021: Mirrabooka (MIR): standalone $30,000 SPP at $3.13 or a 5% discount to VWAP but applicants only get 50% of the final dividend payable in early 2021-22. Received applications worth $38.9 million from 2015 applicants with no scale given cap was $40 million.

January 22, 2021: Salt Lake Potash (SO4): completed a $52m placement at 40c, a 21% discount to the previous close, and followed up with a $30,000 SPP capped at $5 million with no VWAP alternative to the 40c fixed price. Ended up receiving $10 million worth of applications so the $5 million cap was lifted to $8 million and the scale back was based on 83% of your application.

January 20, 2021: Uniti Group (UWL): purchased some assets off Telstra funded by a $50 million placement at $1.50 (2c premium to the previous close of $1.48), followed by a $10 million SPP which included secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP. The placement was "several times" over-subscribed by 40 bidding institutions and existing holders were guaranteed pro-rata which is a good allocation policy. The SPP finished more than 7 times over-subscribed so the cap was lifted to $20 million with the scale back based on size of application with everyone receiving 28.3% of what they applied for.

January 20, 2021: Syrah Resources (SYR): A $56 million placement at 90c followed by $30,000 SPP capped at $12 million. The company has about 10,000 shareholders to the theoretical maximum sum for SPP applications is $300 million. It closed 33% in the money with the stock at $1.20 so not surprising that $63.7 million came through the door. They increased the cap to $18 million and initially announced a scale back based on size of application with no detail. After some prodding, we got more detail two days later, including that 34% of the register applied and applicants received 28.26% of what they applied for so the smart money applied for the full $30,000 and were scaled back to 9,420 shares costing $8478 with a refund or $21,522. That was my experience.

January 15, 2021: APN Convenience Retail (AQR): completed a $30 million placement at $3.55 to be followed by a $5 million SPP at $3.49525. The bizarre pricing reflects that fact that SPP participants won't be eligible for the upcoming 5.475c distribution. Why can't companies just round their dividends up or down to the nearest cent?

January 15, 2021: IGO Ltd (IGO): announced a $1.9 billion lithium acquisition which is being partially funded by a $766 million capital raising comprising a $446 million institutional placement at $4.60 (a 9.7% discount to the previous close of $5.09) and a 1-for-8.5 non-renounceable offer to raise $320 million. The $262 million institutional component was 98% subscribed (excluding 13% shareholder Mark Creasy who only took up $20 million of his entitlement) and the $58 million retail component closes on January 15 and applicants are permitted to apply for additional shares equivalent to 50% of their entitlement. The stock was well in the money leading into the close, so the retail offer was 93% subscribed, although the announcement provided no breakdown on the overs component. The company privately advised that the $57 million comprised $38 million in entitlements and $15 million in overs. IGO made the offer to 9,977 eligible shareholders and a healthy 5,085 or 51% took it up.

January 13, 2021: Zip Co (ZIP): announced a $150 million capital raising comprising a $120 million placement priced at $5.34, a 4.1% discount to the previous close of $5.57, and a $30 million SPP which included a secondary pricing mechanism based on a 2% discount to VWAP. Under-written by Merrill Lynch with Shaw assisting. The placement outcome announcement talked about over-subscriptions but there was no reference to whether existing shareholders were given priority. The SPP received $56.7 million in applications which were accepted in full.

January 11, 2021: Money 3 (MNY): raised $45 million through an institutional placement at $2.70, an 8.8% discount to the previous close, followed by a $5 million SPP where the offer document mentioned a potential increase to $7 million and also an intention to scale back based on size of holding but to also allocate at least 400 new shares to all applicants. This sort of transparency is an innovation others should follow.

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Record 120 $20m+ raisings in 2020 below

December 23, 2020: Abacus Property (ABP): a 1-for 4.8 accelerated non-renounceable at $2.90 with unlimited overs to raise $402 million. The $356 million insto component was 97% subscribed by eligible holders and the $46 million retail component finished 55% short with total subscriptions of $20.8 million, including $4.3 million through the unlimited overs facility. CEO Steven Sewell claimed to be "extremely pleased" with the retail take-up which was solid considering the shares were under-water and finished the year at $2.87. Reasonable transparency on the participation data with disclosure that 1,896 shareholders participated. 7/10.

December 18, 2020: IAG: launched a $650 million placement at $5.05, a 7.5% discount to the previous close, to meet the coming flood of COVID-19 business interruption claims and guaranteed pro-rata for existing holders. The follow-on $100 million SPP included a strange promise to use both size of holding and size of application in any scale back. SPP included secondary pricing of a 2% discount to VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer which kicked into play when the stock tumbled below $5 and the offer ended up being priced at $4.97. Board accepted all $125.9 million in applications with good transparency on the participation data which came in at just 1.8%. Stock finished the year at $4.70 so a rare loser for investors. The SPP document was dated November 30 and closed December 18 so investors had 19 days to participate. 5/10

December 17, 2020: Ovato (OVT): The old Pacific Magazines and Printing almost went broke but have been saved by the controlling Hannan family under-writing a $40 million capital raising structured as a non-renounceable 10.93-for-1 at 0.5c each with an unlimited ability to apply for additional shares. The stock was suspended throughout the retail offer period so difficult to assess the attractiveness of the highly dilutive raising. It ended up finishing heavily under-subscribed (7 billion shares at 0.5c or some $35 million short) with all applicants for additional shares fully satisfied. The stock resumed trading after Christmas and ranged between 0.5c and 0.7c, finishing the year at 0.7c providing a 40% return for those who backed the recapitalisation, led by the Hannans and Mercury Media, owner of the old Bauer Media. 5/10

December 15, 2020: GUD (GUD): announced a $70 million acquisition to be funded precisely by a $70 million capital raising, comprising a $55 million placement and a $15 million SPP. The placement was sensibly under-written at a floor price of $10.75 but then the bookbuild cleared at $11.25. The $30,000 SPP is also priced at $11.25 or a 2.5% discount to VWAP, and they accepted all $20.7 million in applications with the final pricing being $11, a 25c discount to the placement price. Excellent participation transparency in the SPP outcome announcement without any prodding from us, which is a good sign. Stock traded at around $11.80 when the SPP shares were issued so a good outcome for participants. Stock finished the year at $11.74. 6/10

December 14, 2020: Bega Cheese (BGA): agreed to buy Lion's Dairy and Drinks business for $534 million and launched a $401 million capital raising priced at $4.60 comprising a $181 million institutional placement, the maximum 15% allowable under the rules, and a $220 million 1-for-4.5 non-renounceable. The $103 million institutional component of the pro-rata offer was supported by 96% of eligible shareholders with the $117 million retail component being larger as Bega moved from a majority retail to majority institutional register. A shame it wasn't renounceable but at least retail could apply for additional shares equivalent to 50% of entitlement although this shouldn't have been capped. The raising was priced at a 9.1% discount to the previous close of $5.06 and the stock soared when trading resumed on November 27, suggesting investors liked the acquisition. Unfortunately, the $115 million retail offer fell $57 million short with just $46 million in applications and $12 million in overs. With the stock closing at $5.32 on December 18, the under-writers were enjoying a $9 million paper profit on the $57 million retail shortfall, which only existed because the board unfairly restricted the ability for retail shareholders to apply for additional shares. Stock finished the year at $5.11 so a reasonable quick profit for participants and fund manager Fidelity emerged as having picked up $27 million of the retail shortfall. 3/10

December 10, 2020: Galaxy Resources (GXY): $161 million raising at $1.70 (a 15% discount to the previous close of $2) comprising an over-sized $111 placement and a 1-for-14 non-renounceable to raise $50 million with applications for additional shares limited to 33% of entitlement. The accelerated component raised $124 million and the subsequent $37 million retail offer was fully under-written and received $25.1 million in applications delivering a take-up rate of 66%. This split $20.4 million in applications and $4.7 million in overs, leaving a $12 million shortfall which wouldn't have existed if overs were unlimited. With the stock finishing at $2.23, retail shareholders have once again been shafted by a heavily discounted over-sized placement. 4/10

December 10, 2020: Hotel Property Investments (HPI): purchased 3 pubs for $63 million funded by a $40 million placement at $3.04 plus an $8 million SPP at the same price which did not have a VWAP pricing alternative. The pokies pub landlord joined the SPP scale back club after $27.3 million came through the door and there was no increase in the $8 million cap. At least all applicants were given a minimum allocation of $2500 but the scale back was based on size of holding. Stock finished the year at $3.25 so reasonable return for participants. 4/10

December 3, 2020: Aurelia Metals (AMI): announced a gold mine acquisition funded by a $130 million raising at 43c (a 15% discount to the last close) comprising a $41 million placement and a 1-for-4.2 non-renounceable entitlement offer with a $37 million retail component. The $52 million institutional component of the entitlement offer was supported by 92% of eligible participants and retail shareholders were able to apply for unlimited additional shares but this only attracted 10 million in applications worth $4.4 million (8 million in entitlement and 2 million in overs) so the retail offer finished 88% short. The placement was too big a component of the overall offer but at least it wasn't overly discounted. Stock finished the year at the offer price of 43c. 5/10.

November 25, 2020: Synlait Milk (SM1): the Kiwi-based company raised $NZ180 million in a placement at $NZ5.10, a 14% discount to the previous close of $NZ5.93, and then stuck with its $NZ20 million cap on the $NZ50,000 SPP which followed, including an attractive 2.5% discount on the VWAP price. A total of 3,938 shareholders applied for $NZ59 million in SPP stock and the scale back to $NZ20 million was based on size of holding with no minimum allocation. Stock finished the year at $4.91 so investors were under-water after a profit warning. 4/10.

November 20, 2020: New Century Resources (NCZ): $20.7m placement at 15.5c, against the previous close of 16.5c, followed by a $14.4 million 1-for-12 at 15.5c with unlimited overs which was 85% subscribed with the balance of $2.2 million going to under-writers. All $18 million in applications for overs were rejected. Stock finished the year at 24c so placement recipients are well in front. 4/10.

November 20, 2020: McPhersons (MCP): $10m SPP at $2.27 or a 2.5% discount to VWAP after an earlier $36.5 million placement at $2.27. SPP ended up being priced at $2.15 and all $9.4 million in applications were accepted. Sadly for participants, the stock finished at $1.91 on the first day of trading and then finished the year at $1.36 to be one of the worst performed capital raisings. 5/10

November 19, 2020: HUB24 (HUB): $30,000 SPP at $20 capped at $10 million after earlier $50 million institutional placement. Received $32 million in applications and doubled the cap to $20 million with a scale back based on size of holding but with a $1000 minimum allocation. Stock finished the year at $21.34. 6/10

November 17, 2020: Centuria Industrial REIT (CIP): announced a $125 million placement at $3.06 to fund some cold storage assets but failed to offer retail shareholders an SPP. Stock finished the year at $3.09. 3/10

November 6, 2020: Kina Bank (KSL): the PNG-based bank raised $91 million, comprising a $70 million 1-for-2 non-renounceable at 80c, a $10.5 million placement and a $10.5 million PNG SPP for retail holders. The institutional component of the pro-rata offer raised $35 million with the retail offer finishing 65% short as applications of 14.5m shares were taken up with the balance of 28.7 million going to the under-writers. Stock finished the year at 90c, so marginally in the money. 5/10

November 6, 2020: Dubber (DUB): completed a $35 million placement at $1.10, a 12% discount to the previous close of $1.25, with a $6 million SPP to follow. No VWAP alternative pricing offer if the stock falls. Ended up attracting $33.5 million worth of applications so the board lifted the cap to $10 million and magnanimously withdrew their own applications. Scale back appeared to be based on size of application, although this wasn't clear in the conclusion announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.66 so investors well in front. 5/10

October 27, 2020: Starpharma (SPL): Completed a $45 million placement at $1.50, a 6.5% discount to the previous close of $1.605, and then proceeded with an online only $5 million SPP. It would be preferable if a paper version of the SPP offer document was mailed to all shareholders. The SPP was unfairly capped at $5 million and the directors reserved the right to close it early. In the end it only raised $4.1 million although the conclusion announcement wasn't very clear. Stock finished the year at $1.56. 4/10

October 22, 2020: Select Harvests (SHV): a $120 million raising to fund a $129 million almond acquisition in regional Victoria, comprising a $40 million placement at $5.20 and a 1-for-6.3 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $5.20. The pricing was a tight 4.8% discount to the previous close of $5.46 and the company claimed to have 99% participation in the $41.5 million institutional component of the pro-rata offer. The $38.3 million retail offer included an ability to apply for additional shares equivalent to 50% of entitlement but it ended up being only 57% subscribed including overs totalling $5.9 million. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $5.22. 5/10.

October 20, 2020: Kazia Therapeutics (KZA): 1-for-3 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 80c to raise $25 million. Priced at a 16.7% discount to the previous close of 96c. The institutional component raised $16.4 million and the retail component capped overs at 100% of entitlement but only brought in $2.8 million or 32% with the rest being picked up by the under-writers. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.16 so investors are well in front. 6/10

October 15, 2020: Corporate Travel (CTD): raised $375 million through a 1-for-4.03 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $13.85, a 14.3% discount to the previous close of $16.16. Funds were needed to pay for a $US200 million US acquisition. Founder and CEO Jamie Pherous declined to participate and wasn't compensated for the dilution. He owns 21.27m shares so will be diluted from 19.5% to around 15%. The $262 million institutional component was 90% supported (excluding the Pherous shares) with the shortfall going to a undisclosed institutional investors. The $113 million retail offer went to around 17,000 retail investors and permitted overs of up to a maximum of 100% of entitlement. The stock soared to $17.23 when trading resumed so it looks attractive. It ended up being over-subscribed with $92 million in applications and $53 million in overs. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $17.50 so a good return for participants. 7/10

October 8, 2020: Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (CLW): $60 million placement at $4.87 followed by a $10 million SPP at $4.80 (the discount reflects the missed distribution) which attracted $88.4 million in applications and was expanded to $66.1 million creating the rare situation of an SPP bringing in more cash than the earlier placement. The stock was trading at around $5.20 on the issue date so participants made around $2500 if they applied for the full $30,000. The scale back methodology was a 1-for-1 model so you only received the full $30,000 allocation if you went into the offer owning $30,000 worth of shares. There was no minimum allocation like in many scale backs so if you owned 10 shares you only received 10 more shares. Reasonable disclosure on participation with 4,423 applicants who applied for an average $20,000 each. Stock finished the year at $4.65 so investors are under-water. 6/10

October 7, 2020: Bubs Australia (BUB): $28.3 million placement at 80c, a 15.8% discount to the previous close of 95c, followed by a $10 million $30,000 SPP at the same price with provision to go to a maximum of $11.7 million. Was originally scheduled to close on September 23 but then extended to October 7 due to Australia Post delays. Ended up only bringing in $3.8 million from 492 applicants. Stock finished the year at 59c so investors well under water. 5/10

October 7, 2020: Gascoyne Resources (GCY): $85 million equity raising at 2.5c comprising a $35 million placement of 1.4 billion shares and a 2-for-1 non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise a further $50 million with "overs" limited to 50% of entitlement. The stock last traded at 3.9c on May 29 before being suspended and it still the subject of a DOCA after an earlier collapse. The record gold price is bringing back the dead as Gascoyne promises a revitalised mine plan for its existing Dalgaranga project in WA, plus aggressive pursuit of a number of exploration opportunities. The retail offer attracted $17.1 million in applications and was 71.3% subscribed with the shortfall to be dealt with ahead of trading resuming in late October after a 5 month suspension. Stock finished the year at 43c after a 20-for-1 capital reconstruction so those who shelled out the $85 million at the equivalent of 50c are under water. 5/10

October 6, 2020: BCI Minerals (BCI): 1-for-2 non-renounceable offer at 24c to raise $48 million with largest shareholder Kerry Stokes taking up his full allotment. The institutional component raised $20.8 million but the $27.2 million retail only attracted $5.5 million, leaving a $20.6 million shortfall with the under-writers. There were no overs, suggesting the under-writers were quite happy to pick up the stock. Stock finished the year at 30c so a 25% return for participants. 4/10.

September 23, 2020: Huon (HUO): $60 million placement at $3 followed by a capped $4 million SPP, albeit with a 2.5% discount to VWAP. Ended up being priced at $2.92 and raising just $2 million with good disclosure of the poor participation with the ASX told that only 160 or 9% of the 1734 eligible shareholders participated, with the average application being $12,500. Stock finished the year at $2.66 so all participants are under water. 5/10

September 22, 2020: Pointsbet (PBH): foreshadowed a $300 million raising on August 28 in conjunction with announcing its full year results and a major marketing deal with NBC. The stock duly soared from $7.50 to $14 on August 28 and then, after 3 days of trading, the $303 million capital raising was launched on September 2. It originally comprised a $150 million placement although this was up-sized to $200 million and priced at $11. The institutional component of the $153 million PAITREO raised $70.5 million with a 55% take up rate. The shortfall of 4.88m shares cleared at $12.50, raising $61 million and returning a hefty $6 a share or $29.3 million to non-participants. Rights trading ran from September 9 until September 15 with a value of $5.7 million and an average price of $6.48. There was a very healthy 92% take-up of the $82.7 million retail offer as $76 million came through the door. The 1.05 million retail shortfall shares cleared at $10.60, delivering $4.10 in compensation to non-participants so a win for the instos in terms of compensation. A well structured offer. Stock finished the year at $11.87. 7/10.

September 22, 2020: Orocobre (ORE): A $126 million placement at $2.52, which was priced at a 13% discount to the previous close of $2.90. Followed by a $30 million SPP at $2.52 or a 2% discount to VWAP. Board expanded to $43 million to avoid any scale back after 2,469 or 23% of the eligible 10,742 shareholders applied for an average of $17,000. Excellent disclosure in the outcome announcement and well done for uncapping the SPP. Stock finished the year at $4.47 so participants did very well. 6/10.

September 16, 2020: IOOF (IFL): a complicated $1.09 billion raising comprising a $432 million placement at $3.50, a 22.5% discount to the dividend-adjusted previous closed, a $588 million 1-for-2.09 non-renounceable entitlement offer and a follow-on $50m SPP, similar to the model adopted by Reece earlier this year. Poorly structured given the lack of renounceability, the excessive size of the placement and the bigger than average discount. The $734 million institutional component (including the placement) completed on September 2 with 92% support for the $282 million institutional component of the entitlement offer. The stock then resumed trading and tanked 21.7% to $3.58 on the first day before further declining. The $306 million entitlement offer was only supported by 3% as just 2.8 million shares were taken up for a total of $9.8 million. The $296 million shortfall went to under-writers and with the stock trading just above $3, they were down close to $50 million at one point. The $50 million SPP was equally poorly supported with just $3.8 million coming through the door. There was no VWAP alternative. Retail owned 52% of IOOF before the deal launched and will be diluted down to below 40% in what has been an appallingly structured deal. Stock finished the year at $3.52 so participants broke even. Retail offers opened on September 7 and closed on September 16 which was too tight a timetable. 3/10.

September 15, 2020: Emeco Holdings (EHL): $149 million 1-for-2.1 non-renounceable at 85c, an 18% discount to the previous close of $1.035. There was a 94% take-up of the $111 million institutional component. Retail were banned from applying for additional shares and the $38 million retail offer only attracted $6.5 million in applications so under-writers picked up $31.5m shortfall. Stock finished the year at $1.14 so participants well in front but retail badly diluted. 4/10.

September 15, 2020: Flexigroup, now called Humm (HUM): $140 million 1-for-3.2 accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer at $1.14, a 12.6% discount to the previous close of $1.305. Retail were banned from applying for overs so there was guaranteed dilution. The institutional component raised $79 million with strong participation but the $61 million retail offer was poorly supported only attracting $3 million in applications given the stock was hovering around $1. The retail offer was 50% under-written by Citi so the company said it received $36 million from the retail offer with $33 million of this coming institutional under-writers. Founder Andrew Abercrombie took up 25% of his entitlement and wasn't compensated for the dilution. Stock finished the year at $1.125. 5/10

September 15, 2020: Spirit Telecom (STI): $18.2 million placement at 32c to help fund 3 acquisitions followed by a $5 million SPP with no VWAP pricing alternative. Was flooded with $16.7 million in applications and board refunded $11.7 million sticking with the original $5 million cap but scaled back based on size of application rather than size of holding. Stock finished the year at 40c so was a good placement to back. 4/10

September 14, 2020: De Grey Mining (DEG): $100 million placement at $1.20, a 16.4% discount to the previous close, with no SPP offered for retail holders. This follows an earlier $31.2 million placement at 28c on April 28 which also offered no SPP. Two separate placements with no SPP in 5 months. This is deliberate dilution of retail holders. Stock finished the year at $1.01 so lucky retail weren't offered an SPP on the second placement but they missed out big time on the first one. 1/10.

September 10, 2020: Tabcorp (TAH): $600 million 1-for-11 PAITREO at $3.25, an 11.4% discount to the previous close of $3.67. Rights trading for 8 days from August 24 until September 3. Under-written by UBS with a management fee of 0.4% and an under-writing fee of 1.3% for the institutional component and 1.5% for the retail component. There was a 97% take-up of the $371 million institutional component with the shortfall clearing at $3.70, generating a 45c compensation payment for non-participants. The shares resumed trading below $3.70 suggesting non-participating instos were well compensated, initially anyway. The 170,000 retail shareholders were offered a chance to spend $231 million taking up their rights, an average spend of just $1,360 each. Only 35,000 or 20.6% did so, committing $102 million, which was a 44% take up in dollar terms. The shortfall cleared at just $3.31, generating a 6c compensation payment to non-participants. The VWAP during rights trading was 32c with 8.5 million traded or some 12% of the total. Stock finished the year at $3.90. 8/10.

September 8, 2020: Coronado (CRN): A $250 million raising at 60c comprising an over-sized $145 million placement and a 2-for-11 $105 million accelerated non-renounceable which had a 95% participation rate from institutions although a corporate shareholder was diluted without compensation. The $11 million retail offer attracted $9.6 million in applications (including overs which were capped at 2 times entitlement) meaning the $1.4 million shortfall went to under-writers. The stock was at 72c when the retail offer allotted so these were tasty profits for the under-writers left on the table by retail. Stock finished the year at $1.13 so participants almost doubled their money. 4/10

September 7, 2020: Lynas (LYC): $425 million raising comprising a $212 million placement at $2.30, a 12% discount to the previous close, followed by a 1-for-7.7 non-renounceable entitlement offer at the same price with applications for additional shares limited to 50% of entitlement. There was no disclosure on the take-up rate in the $100 million institutional component of the entitlement offer. Existing holders were offered pro-rata on the placement and the offer under-written by Cannacord Genuity and Merrill Lynch. The $114 million retail offer attracted $60 million in applications from 7697 holders, which included $10 million in overs. The $54 million shortfall was given away to under-writers with no bookbuild so retail were quite badly diluted by the whole exercise, starting off with a majority stake in the company but only contributing $60 million of the $425 million raising. Stock finished the year at $3.90 so raising was a boomer for participants. 4/10.

September 4, 2020: 5G Networks (5GN): $30 million placement at $1.85 with CEO Joe Demase also selling 3m shares or 15% of his stake for $5.5 million. No sign of an SPP which is disappointing. Stock finished the year at $1.42 so investors underwater. 2/10.

September 2, 2020: Sydney Airport (SYD): $2 billion 1-for-5.15 PAITREO at $4.56, a 15.4% discount to the last trade of $5.39. A 3 day trading halt until Friday August 14 for the institutional offer. The retail component closes on September 2 and has rights trading from August 14 until August 26. UBS is sole under-writer with a 1.05% fee for the institutional component and a 1.7% fee for the retail component. Was a 93% take-up of the $1.3 billion institutional component with the $100 million shortfall clearing at $5.30, an impressive premium to the TERP which provided 74c of compensation. The $695 million retail offer went to 110,000 retail shareholders and the take-up was 62% in dollar terms or $430 million. There was excellent participation disclosure with 53,000 shareholders applying and rights trading was worth $19 million, ranging between 55c and 89c with the rights VWAP finishing at 78c. The 58.1 million shortfall shares cleared at $5.50, a 20c discount to the previous close, and this generated a 94c compensation payment to non-participants as institutions shelled out $320 million. A win for retail given the instos only received 74c and the best outcome for retail was exiting at the end rather than on market. Stock finished the year at $6.41 so raising was worth backing. 9/10

August 26, 2020: Perpetual (PPT): $225 million placement at $30.30, a 9.8% discount to the previous close of $33.61, followed by a $40m SPP at the placement price or a 2% discount to the 5 day VWAP leading into the closing date. Strangely, the placement represents 15.7% of issued capital so Perpetual chose to rely on the special provisions allowing placements of up to 25% against the normal limit of 15%. The placement conclusion announcement did not provide a percentage take-up but committed to pro-rata allocations on a best endeavors basis. Minimum SPP application of $1000. Ended up expanding the SPP cap to $50 million after receiving $68 million in applications. No minimum allocation. Stock finished the year at $34.76. 5/10.

August 26, 2020: Pantoro (PNR) : $50 million placement at 24c, a 5.9% discount to the previous close of 25.5c, underwritten by Argonaut to advance its WA gold interests followed by a $30,000 $5 million SPP at the same price which received $7 million in applications and was scaled back to $5.5 million with no disclosure on the scale back formula or the participation rates. Stock finished the year at 22c so underwater. 5/10.

August 21, 2020: WAM Microcap (WMI): ended up raising $88 million in a bizarrely combined placement/SPP at $1.38 that raised $29.3m in the placement and $58.7m in the SPP with both scaled back despite their being no disclosure on the size of applications. Stock finished the year at $1.89 so a good turn for those who got allocated. 5/10.

August 20, 2020: Centuria Industrial REIT (CIP): $240m million accelerated non-renounceable 1-for-3.7 institutional entitlement offer at $3.15 followed by a $101 million retail entitlement with overs limited at 50% of entitlement, which attracted just $35 million. It should have had unlimited overs and there was no breakdown provided on the total figure for overs. Under-written by UBS and JP Morgan. Stock finished the year at $3.09 so narrowly under-water. 5/10

August 18, 2020: City Chic Collective (CCX): $80 million placement at $3.05, a 4.7% discount to the previous close, followed by a $10 million SPP at the same price of a 2% discount to VWAP over the final 5 days of the offer. The placement represents 13.1% of issued capital and the SPP is just 11.1% of the capital raising. Placement conclusion announcement silent on allocation policy or take-up by existing holders. Ended up accepting all $31 million in SPP applications with no scale back which was generous for retail shareholders. Stock finished the year at $4.08 so strong returns. 7/10

August 14, 2020: Downer EDI (DOW): $400 million 1-for-5.58 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $3.75, a 12% discount to the previous close of $4.26. The $339 million institutional component was supported by 97% of holders but shortfall was given away at the offer price. The $61 million retail offer had no overs and unsurprisingly fell 49% short with the $30 million shortfall being handed away to institutional sub-underwriters. Retail investors started off owning just 15.25% of the company and were diluted by the $30 million shortfall because they were banned from applying for additional shares in an in-the-money offer. A month later the stock at $4.23 so this was serious dilution. Stock finished the year at $5.33 so the retail shortfall has been very costly. 2/10

August 12, 2020: Cann Group (CAN): after a $14.3 million placement at 40c, launched a $10m SPP at the same price but ended up accepting all $25.6 million in applications bringing the total raising to $40.2 million and being a rare example (see list) of an SPP being larger than the earlier placement. The SPP participation disclosure was good with 2,793 applicants, comprising 14.5% of the nearly 20,000 shareholders. Stock finished the year at 59c so strong returns. 6/10

August 11, 2020: Audinate (AD8): $40m raising comprising a $28m placement at $5.15, a 9.5% discount to the previous close, and then a $12m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. The placement comprises 8% of issued capital and the SPP is 30% of the raising, which is above average. Under-written by UBS and Canaccord Genuity and placement conclusion announcement commented on "best endeavors" commitment to pro-rata allocation for existing holders. $12 million SPP was fully subscribed despite marginal pricing but there was no disclosure of the total applications or the participation data in the SPP outcome announcement. All we know is that applicants with less than 50 shares received nothing and everyone else got 61% of their existing holding. Stock finished the year at $8.15 so an excellent return. 6/10.

August 7, 2020: Stavely Minerals (SVY): raised $25 million in a placement at 60c, a 14.2% discount to the 5 day VWAP of 70c, with a $3m SPP to follow in order to advance its gold project in Western Victoria. Two insiders collectively sold down 2m of their 15m shares into the placement which was large relative to the existing share base such that part of it was subject to shareholder approval. The SPP had no VWAP pricing alternative and applicants were unfairly capped at $12,000 with a minimum application of $3000. The SPP raised $2.8 million with no disclosure of participation rates. Stock finished the year at 79c so solid 30% return for participants. 6/10

August 7, 2020: Bellevue Gold (BGL): Announced a $100m placement at the fixed price of $1, a 10.7% discount to the last close of $1.12, to be followed by a $20 million SPP at the same price with no VWAP pricing alternative. The placement outcome announcement claimed the book was covered "multiple times" and made no commitment to pro-rata allocations. Also no reference to what percentage of stock went to existing holders, which is normal in these announcements. Good participation disclosure in the SPP outcome announcement except for the failure to reveal total applications. The $20 million cap was lifted to $35 million and the scale back policy was based on size of holding based on two thresholds: below 1000 shares got 403 shares and between 1001 shares and 29,999 shares got 78% of their application whilst everyone above 30,000 got the lot. It was a bit unfair to scale back someone with 900 shares to just a $403 allocation but apart from that, the expansion was welcome and scale back policy reasonable. Stock finished the year at $1.12 so reasonable return. 6/10

August 5, 2020: QANTAS (QAN): A $1.36 billion placement at $3.65 which represented the maximum 25% of pre-raising issued capital utilising the COVID-19 emergency provisions given that the normal placement is only 15%. The pricing was a steep 12.9% discount to the previous close of $4.19 and this was followed by a $500 million SPP on the same terms or a 2.5% discount to the 5-day VWAP. With around 93,000 eligible shareholders, the theoretical maximum in SPP allocations is $2.79 billion, so the $500m cap represents 18% of this figure which is above the average. The placement outcome announcement disclosed that 94% of the stock went to existing holders so around $80 million came from non-shareholders. The raising was under-written by JP Morgan and Macquarie for a minimum fee of 1.35% or some $18.4 million. Stock was trading below the placement price a week before the close, so the board controversially extended the July 22 closing date until August 5. Ended up raising $71.7m at $3.18 with a 5% participation rate. SPP outcome announcement adopted best practice transparency as 8,660 of the 173,343 eligible holders contributed an average $8,200 each. Stock finished the year at $4.85 so placement recipients are 33% or $447 million in front and SPP participants did even better. With a big retail based, 6/10

August 5, 2020: BWX (BWX): the listed hair and skincare products manufacturer announced a $40 million placement at $3.40, a 7.1% discount to the previous close of $3.66, followed by a $10 million SPP at the same price with no VWAP alternative. The raising is under-written by Macquarie and Bell Potter and placement represents 9.5% of issued capital. The placement outcome announcement talked of strong demand exceeding supply and an allocation policy based on pro-rata for existing holders. The stock soared to $4.38 when trading resumed suggesting placement was under-priced. Disclosed 8,800 shareholders in the 2019 annual report so the theoretical maximum in applications for the SPP was $264 million. Ended up receiving $30 million in SPP applications and the board lifted the $10m cap to $12m and applied a scale back based on size of holding with a minimum allocation of $1000. Fair enough. Stock finished the year at $4.11 so a nice earner. 5/10

August 4, 2020: Sezzle (SZL): Announced a $US60 million raising with a placement under-written by Ord Minnett at $5 but then priced in a bookbuild which finished at $5.30, raising $79 million. Followed by a $7.2 million SPP which was swamped with $78.2 million in applications with an extraordinary participation rate of 72.6% (4395 out of 6055 shareholders applied). Directors refused to expand the $7.2m cap so $71 million or some 92% of application monies were refunded with the scale back formula based on size of holding. At least the SPP outcome announcement included a table showing that only those with more than 100,000 shares received the full $30,000 allocation. Stock was above $7 during the offer period, which explains the strong demand. The buy now pay later sector is certainly hot. Stock finished the year at $6.17 so solid returns. 2/10

August 3, 2020: Helloworld (HLO): a $50 million capital raising comprising a $27 million placement at $1.65, a hefty 16% discount to the previous close of $1.965 and accessing the expanded placement rules given it comprised 24.3% of issued capital. Twinned with a 1-for-9 entitlement offer at $1.65 with unlimited overs comprising a $17.5m institutional component and a $5.4m retail offer. CEO Andrew Burnes took up $5m in new stock or 70% of his entitlement and Qantas chose to be diluted. Placement outcome announcement curiously claimed a 97% take-up rate by institutions. Stock was trading at a discount shortly before retail offer closed so only 790k came through the door comprising 550 in applications and 240k in over, for a total take up of 17.2% of the $5.4m offer. The shortfall went to under-writers. The 3 biggest shareholders were all diluted with Burnes dropping by 3.2% to 28.15%, Qantas dipping from 15.4% to 12.8%, and Spiros Alysandratos dropping by around 1% to 17%. Fidelity picked up the slack, moving from nothing to 8% after spending $6.66 million. Stock finished the year at $2.52 so worth backing. 4/10

July 30, 2020: Afterpay (APT): Announced a $650m placement at a floor price of $61.75 but then ended up pricing it at $66, a modest 2.9% discount to the previous close of $68. The founders also sold $270 million worth of stock into the same bookbuild at $66. A $150 million SPP followed at $66 or the 5 day VWAP with no discount, although it is capped at $20,000 per investor. Afterpay only completed its last $15,000 SPP in January when $240 million poured in chasing $30 million at the $23 offer price and the board lifted the overall amount by 10% to $33 million. This partially explains the $20,000 cap because no investor can receive more than $30,000 through an SPP in any 12 month period. Ended up accepting all $136 million in applications with good transparency on participation data as company disclosed offer was sent to 53,465 holders with 10,110 applications and a participation rate of 19%. The minimum application through the SPP was $1000. Stock finished the year at $118 so placement recipients have made $512m on paper and non-participants in the SPP left plenty on the table. 6/10

July 29, 2020: Capricorn Metals: (CMM): $32.3m placement at $1.90, a 7.8% discount to the previous close with the placement comprising 4.9% of issued capitals. Funds needed for gold project expansion. Mayor shareholder Hawke's Point also sold down from 16.7% to 10% at the same price. No accompanying SPP so retail badly shafted. Stock finished the year at $1.78 so marginally under water. 2/10.

July 24, 2020: Calidus Resources (CAI): completed $25m placement at 51c, an 8% discount to the 15 day VWAP, to advance East Pilbara gold project. No SPP at all for retail. Very disappointing. Stock finished the year at 50c so break even. 2/10.

July 23, 2020: Mincor Resources (MCR): $50 million two-stage placement at 72c with the second $32.7m component subject to shareholder approval in August. Priced at 72c, a 12.2% discount to the previous close. Under-written by Euroz and Macquarie. Twiggy Forrest took up $8.3m reflecting current 13.8% stake and placement outcome announcement committed to pro-rata on a best endeavours basis. $10m SPP at 72c unfairly limited to $15,000 followed and was surprisingly closed two days early on July 22 once $10.4m was through the door. This was tipped as a possibility in the SPP offer document. Stock was only marginally in the money at 75c when SPP closed. No disclosure on participation data with SPP. Stock finished the year at $1.10 so strong returns for participants. 5/10

July 21, 2020: Home Consortium (HMC): $140 million placement at $2.88, a modest 4% discount to the previous close of $3, followed by a $30m SPP with a 2.5% discount to the 5 day VWAP. Key shareholders such as Chemist Warehouse and Spotlight didn't participate in the placement. Only floated last year so no disclosure of shareholder numbers in an annual report as yet but listed 3,223 holders immediately after it floated. Ended up only receiving $10.63m in SPP applications based on a VWAP price of $2.83, a 5c discount to the placement. Poor disclosure in outcome announcement on participation rates or even how the VWAP price was calculated. Stock finished the year at $4 so excellent returns for participants. 4/10

July 21, 2020: Challenger (CGF): A $270 million placement at $4.89, an 8.1% discount to the previous close of $5.32. Placement represents 9% of issued capital and the follow-on $30 million SPP looks a little skinny as it only represents 10% of the capital raising. The SPP has a secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to the 5-day VWAP and the raising is under-written by Macquarie and Goldman Sachs. SPP received $40m in applications and board expanded it to $35 million, scaling back $5 million based on size of holdings. VWAP pricing was $4.32, a significant discount to the $4.89 paid by instos in the earlier $270m placement. No disclosure on participation rates. Stock finished the year at $6.44 so strong returns. 5/10.

July 17, 2020: 5G Networks (5GN): $18.3 million placement at $1.23 followed by a $4m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. The original closing date of July 8 was extended to July 17. The price weakened so the VWAP pricing kicked in and $3.87 million worth of SPP stock was issued to 493 retail shareholders at $1.14, a 9c or 7.3% discount to the placement price . See SPP outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.42 for a solid return. 5/10

July 9, 2020: Alliance Aviation Services (AQZ): $92 million placement at $2.95, a modest 4.8% discount to the previous close of $3.10, to be followed by a $30 million SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. The share price weakened and only $3.8 million came through the door from retail and the outcome announcement had good transparency disclosing 304 of the 2550 eligible shareholders applied or some 8.4%. The VWAP pricing based on a 2% discount came into play with retail investors paying $2.85 or 10c less than the institutions. Stock finished the year at $3.84 for an excellent return. 5/10

July 6, 2020: Uniti Group (UWL): $270 million non-renounceable 1-for-1.68 at $1.40 with no ability for retail shareholders to apply for additional shares and no compensation for non-participants. There was no disclosure about the level of take-up by existing institutions in the $152 million institutional offer, with the shortfall allocated at the offer price rather than through a bookbuild that maximised the price and generated some compensation for non-participants. The $118 million retail offer, which is bigger than usual comprising 43.7% of the overall offer, finished 58% or $69 million short despite never trading below the $1.40 offer price. The shortfall went to sub-underwriters selected by Uniti. Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were the under-writers of a badly structured offer that diluted retail investors. Stock finished the year at $1.71 so solid returns. 3/10.

July 6, 2020: Vicinity Centres (VCX): $1.2 billion placement at $1.48 (an 8.1% discount to the last close of $1.61) followed by $200m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP based on the last 5 days of the offer. Billionaire John Gandel agreed to take up $100 million worth of new shares or some 8.33% of the placement. Given that he currently owns 18.2%, he is being diluted and the ASX only got involved with this special waiver because he has board representation. The placement outcome announcement made it clear some new shareholders joined the register with the company using its discretion. Only received $32.6m in SPP applications from 2400 shareholders given share price weakness so no scale back given $200m cap. The VWAP pricing kicked at at $1.44, a discount to the $1.48 placement price. See SPP completion announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.60 for a modest return after spending many weeks underwater. 5/10.

July 3, 2020: Blackmores (BKL): $92 million placement at $72.50, an 8.1% discount to the last close of $78.85, followed by a capped $25m SPP with VWAP pricing based on a 2.5% discount over both the last day and the last 5 days. An unusually long offer period from June 3 until July 3 and then another unusual delay until July 15 for the SPP stock to trade. Largest shareholder Marcus Blackmore didn't participate and was diluted down to around 21.5%. With around 18,000 shareholders, the theoretical maximum for the SPP is $540 million but retail are only being offered 4.63% of this amount and 21.3% of the overall $117 million raising. The placement outcome announcement committed to pro-rata for institutional component with some new shareholders coming in under board discretion based on alignment. Ended up receiving $77m in SPP applications and responded by lifting the cap from $25m to $49m with a pro rata scale back and a $1000 minimum allocation. Good transparency on 25% SPP participation rate. Stock finished the year at $75.55 for a negligible return. 5/10.

July 3, 2020: Kogan.com (KGN): $100m placement at $11.45, a 7.5% discount to the previous close, followed by $15m SPP at the same price with no VWAP alternative. Seems opportunistic given the company's cash balance and the recent run up in its share price. The executives were recently issued options at much cheaper prices. Was more than 30% in the money on the closing data so no surprise the offer was flooded with $115m in applications. The board only lifted the cap modestly by $5m to $20m, causing a $95 million refund equivalent to 82% of all applications. The scale back formula was pro-rata based size of holding with no minimum. There was a good table explaining the allocations in the SPP outcome announcement and participation hit 52%, a rare majority, as 6,793 of the 13,015 eligible shareholders applied for SPP shares. Stock finished the year at $19 so fabulous returns for the lucky participants. 4/10

July 3, 2020: Sky City Casino (SKC): Launched a $NZ230 million placement at $NZ2.50, a 6.4% discount to the previous close of $NZ2.67, followed by a $NZ50m SPP with investors able to apply for up to $NZ50,000 ($A47,000) worth of new shares. Excellent transparency in the placement outcome announcement and good to see disclosure that the SPP comprises 22% of the capital raising when retail investors only own 21% of the company. The SPP offer document also made it very clear that the $NZ50 million cap won't be lifted and the allocation policy in the event of a scale back will be pro rata based on the size of your holding. This was academic in the end because applications only totalled $NZ45.6 million and the $NZ4.4 million shortfall went to the under-writers, a rarity with SPPs in the Australian market. Stock finished the year at $A2.97 so solid returns. 6/10 for the transparency.

July 3, 2020: Super Retail Group (SUL): $203 million non-renounceable entitlement offer at $7.19, an 8% discount to the previous close of $7.81. Founder Reg Rowe agreed to take up his full $59.2 million entitlement (29.1%) and therefore won't be diluted. The $158 million institutional component (including Reg Rowe) was 95% subscribed with no disclosure on who got the $8 million shortfall. The failure to allow 10,000 retail shareholders to apply for additional shares in the $44 million retail offer, despite a specific written request to do so, has guaranteed a retail shortfall. Macquarie and UBS were the joint managers and under-writers, taking a fee of $2.05%, excluding the Reg Rowe component. The retail offer was well in the money but only attracted a 69% take up ($30.4m) so the unknown under-writers picked up $13.64m worth of shortfall stock which should have either been auctioned off to the highest bidder or offered to other retail investors. Stock finished the year at $10.53 so the retail shortfall proved costly. 3/10

July 2, 2020: Temple & Webster (TPW): a $40 million placement at $5.70, a 9.7% discount to the last close of $6.31. No wonder it talked about heavy demand. Very disappointing to not have any form of follow-up SPP for retail investors. Stock was at $7.60 in early July so clear lost value and dilution for retail investors who are still waiting for their SPP. Stock finished the year at $11.07 so a boomer for all participants. 1/10

June 29, 2020: IRESS (IRE): $150m placement at $10.42, a 7% discount to the last close of $11.21, followed by a $20m SPP at the placement price or a 2% discount to the closing price on the last day of the offer or the VWAP over the last 5 days, whichever is lower. The placement comprises 8.2% of issued capital and the board has signaled that any SPP scale back will be based on the size of an applicant's holding. The board has not disclosed what proportion of IRESS was owned by retail shareholders going into the capital raising but if all 7,366 shareholder applied for the maximum $30,000, it would be dealing with $221 million in applications. The SPP comprises 11.76% of the capital raising. The placement outcome announcement committed to pro rata for applicants with the board using discretion based on alignment for the balance. The SPP outcome announcement disclosed a 30.4% participation and indirectly revealed applications totalled $42 million. The cap was lifted by $5m to $25 million and the scale back was based on size of holding but with a minimum allocation of $2500. Stock finished the year at $10.61 so a marginal play. 5/10

June 25, 2020: Atlas Alteria (ALX): $420 million placement at $6.20, a 7.5% discount to the last close of $6.70, followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $75 million for retail investors. The placement outcome announcement stressed there was strong demand with all stock allocated to existing shareholders, suggesting it could have been priced more aggressively. With 25,000 shareholders the theoretical maximum for the SPP is $750 million with retail being offered 10% of this amount and 15% of the overall raising. This broadly aligned with the retail share of the register revealed in last year's $1.35 billion capital raising which included an $898 million entitlement offer, 16% or $145 million of which came through retail shareholders. Was only marginally in the money at the close but still attracted $180 million in applications and the board failed to lift the cap. The scale back was based on size of holding with a minimum allocation to all of $1000. Good transparency on SPP participation which hit 35.7% as 9,300 out of 26,000 shareholders applied. See announcement. Stock finished the year at $6.50 for a negligible gain. 5/10

June 25, 2020: Infratil (IFT): The NZ-based infrastructure investor announced a $NZ250 million placement at $NZ4.76, an 8% discount to the previous close, followed by a $NZ50 million SPP with investors capped at $NZ50,000 each. The SPP had an alternative pricing based on a 2.5% discount to the 5-day VWAP which came into play with retail investors charged $NZ4.65, an 11c discount to the placement price. Surprisingly strong SPP demand of $NZ131m from 10,829 applicants but the board refused to lift the $NZ50m cap and imposed a scale back based on size of holding with no minimum allocation. See SPP outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $A6.91 for a solid return. 5/10

June 25, 2020: Arena REIT (ARF): $60 million placement, upsized from $50m, at $2.28, a 5% discount to the previous close, followed by a $10 million SPP, priced with an adjustment for distribution guidance and with no VWAP pricing alternative. Placement conclusion announcement committed to pro-rata for applicants but no disclosure about how the shortfall was handled. Ended up accepting all $24.9 million in SPP applications with no scale back. See announcement. Stock finished the year at $2.88 for a reasonable return. 6/10

June 24, 2020: Aspen Group (APZ): $20 million raising at $1.10 with $17 million through a placement followed by a $3m SPP with no VWAP pricing alternative. Unusual element saw a major shareholder decline to participate and then also decline to exit through the bookbuild process. See placement outcome announcement. The SPP was scaled back to the cap of $3 million with no disclosure of total applications and using a formula capped at 19 times your holding so that "this scaling methodology prevents a disproportionate allocation of stock to holders with nominal security holdings." Stock finished the year at $1.21 for a marginal gain. 5/10

June 24, 2020: Peninsula Energy (PEN): announced a $40.3 million pro-rata entitlement offer at a massive 45% discount to the previous close that it described as “renounceable”. Shareholders can sell their entitlements on market between June 9 and June 17, but if they don't sell on market or take up the 9-for-5 offer at 7.1c, the directors will simply sell off the shortfall to whoever they like at the offer price of 7.1c. In other words, take it up or get massively diluted and if you do nothing you get nothing but heavy dilution. True renounceability would see the under-writer conduct a competitive auction of the shortfall and any premium achieved above the 7.1c offer price returned to the non-participating shareholders as compensation. Stock finished the year at 11c so was worth participating to avoid the dilution. 5/10

June 22, 2020: Aeris Resources (AIS): 2.02-for-1 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 3c to raise $40 million. Under-written by Euroz and Bell Potter. Retail offer was only 26% subscribed with $2.6 million coming in, including less than $200,000 in the "overs" offer. The shortfall offer attracted about $6 million in bids at the 3c offer price with $93m shares or $2.8 million worth of stock finishing up with the under-writers. See outcome announcement. Stock never closed below 3c after the offer closed so no damage for either participants or the under-writer. Stock finished the year at 10c under-writers made a fortune. 6/10.

June 18, 2020: United Malt (UMG): $140 million placement at $3.80 followed by a $25 million SPP at the placement price or a 2% discount to VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer period. Was priced at an 11.4% discount to the last close of $4.29 and the stock closed at $4.10 on May 15. With almost 13,000 shareholders, the theoretical maximum in SPP applications is around $400 million. Ended up receiving $62.9 million in applications and lifted the cap to $30.6 million imposing a scale back model based on size of holding but with a minimum allocation of 264 shares costing $1003. See SPP outcome announcement which had good participation disclosure. Stock finished the year at $4.10 for a marginal return. 5/10

June 18, 2020: Novonix (NVX): a curious $58 million placement priced at just 29c, a massive 56% discount to the last trade. Comprises a $5.65m institutional placement, plus a strategic placement to Rich Lister Trevor St Baker of up to $19.4m and then a 1-for-1 entitlement offer to raise $38 million. The size of the discount and the selective placement looks awful in terms of retail dilution but the stock rocketed to a high of $1.40 on June 10 before retreating again. The huge discount meant the retail offer finished only 3.3% short with just $1.3 million worth of stock available. Controversially, 3.61 million shares or $1 million worth of stock was given to sub-underwriters and all applicants for additional shares were scaled back to a maximum of 1724 shares costing just $500. There was no disclosure on total applications (suspect over-subscriptions exceeded $10m) or the numbers of shareholders who were given the offer and applied to take it up. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.21 so a 4 bagger for those who got stock. 3/10

June 17, 2020: Decmil (DCG) $52 million raising structured as a non-renounceable 4.2-for-1 at 5c. The previous trade before a month long suspension was at 20c so existing shareholders will take a huge haircut if they don't take up their entitlement. See power point presentation. The $20.3 million retail component finished 65% subscribed and shareholders were able to subscribe for unlimited additional shares although there was no disclosure of the breakdown in the outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at 63c after a 1-for-5 consolidation which is the equivalent of 12.6c so backers of the capital raising at 5c did very well. 6/10 thanks to unlimited overs.

June 12, 2020: Panoramic Resources (PAN): $90 million raising at the heavily discounted price of 7c comprising a $29 million placement and a $61m 1.15-for-1 non-renounceable entitlement offer at 7c with retail shareholders limited to "overs" of 50% of entitlement. Western Areas is entering as a 19.9% shareholder via the placement and a priority entitlement to the retail shortfall. Last trade was 12c so this 41% discount is a terrible deal for retail investors who get heavily diluted, particularly those who don't participate. The institutional component raised $52m including $23.2m for the accelerated offer with the large $38m retail entitlement offer, which included overs, finishing 66% subscribed, leaving a big shortfall for Western Areas. Stock finished the year at 13c so big participants such as Western Areas nearly doubled their money. 3/10

June 11, 2020: Breville (BRG): $94 million placement at $17 followed by a $10 million under-written SPP with no VWAP alternative. UBS and Goldman Sachs are joint under-writers and Solomon Lew's interests have declined to participate so will be marginally diluted down from current 33% stake although the raising only represents 4.7% of existing capital. With about 3400 retail shareholders the maximum SPP application is around $100 million. Seems a bit rough to limit the SPP to just 9.6% of the raising, particularly when the Lew interests are not participating. Placement completed in record time after being launch at 6.45pm on May 13 and then with completion announcement lodged at 9.06am on May 14. Stock above $20 throughout the SPP offer period so no surprise when $54.7 million came through the door. The board stuck with the $10m cap, so a heavy 80%-plus scale back based on side of holding with a minimum allocation of 30 shares costing $510. Good transparency on participation with 3104 holders applying or 44.25% of the eligible cohort. Stock finished the year at $25.57 so a 50% return for participants. 5/10

June 9, 2020: Incitec Pivot (IPL) $600 million placement at $2, an 8.7% discount to previous close of $2.19 followed by a $75m SPP at the placement price or a 2% discount to the 5 day VWAP. Around 40,000 shareholders so theoretical SPP maximum of $1.2 billion and they have been allocated 11.1% of $675 million raising. This is around the 30th largest placement of all time - see full list of biggest placements. Wrote to them on May 11 requesting a range of transparency measures including maximum disclosure in the placement completion announcement. They revealed that only $12 million went to non-shareholders. The SPP outcome announcement did not reveal participation data and the $57.5 million in applications finished short of the $75m cap so there was no scaleback. Stock finished the year at $2.28 so a reasonable return despite being underwater for many weeks. 5/10

June 9, 2020: Nickel Mines (NIC): A $231 million non-renounceable 1-for-3.6 entitlement offer at 50c to fund Indonesia expansion. Priced at an 11.5% discount to the previous close of 56.5c and retail shareholders can apply for unlimited additional shares. The $179m institutional component was 75% subscribed by existing holders, which is lower than average, meaning new holders picked up at the shortfall at 50c with no compensation paid to non-participants. The $53 million retail offer attracted $32 million in entitlement applications, $7 million in applications for additional shares and under-writers picked up the remaining $14 million shortfall. The offer was in-the-money for the duration but still fell short with no compensation for non-participants. No data was provided on participation rates by shareholder. Stock finished the year at $1.10 so an absolute boomer for the under-writers who picked up shortfall stock. 6/10

June 4, 2020: Open Pay (OPY): $33.7 million placement at $2.40, a 9.8% premium to the previous close. No SPP offer for retail investors but at least the placement was a premium. Stock finished the year at $2.26 so investors are slightly underwater. 6/10 due to the premium pricing.

June 2, 2020: Credit Corp (CCP) $120 million placement at $12.50, an 11.6% discount to the previous close of $14.14. To be followed by a $30 million SPP at the placement price or a 2.5% discount to the VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer. Made this allocations announcement given placement exceeded 15% and disclosed that 12% of the placement went to new shareholders. The company has a history of scaling back SPPs after it did a $125 million placement in April 2019 and proposed to cap its follow on SPP at just $10 million, but then expanded this to $15 million after strong demand of about $40 million. Wrote to them on April 29 requesting the SPP cap be lifted and they ended up accepting an additional $5 million to accept $35 million of the $102 million in applications. They were calling shareholders to sell the offer which was an odd tactic given the likelihood of a heavy scale back. See SPP outcome announcement which disclosed there was 5400 applicants but not how many shareholders were eligible to apply. Stock finished the year at $29.70 so participants more than doubled their money. 4/10 given heavy SPP scale back.

June 2, 2020: National Storage (NSR) $300 million placement at $1.57, a 7.1% discount to last trade of $1.69, using the extra placement capacity rule to expand its issued capital by an excessive 24.1%. Was followed by an under-sized $30m SPP equivalent to just 9.1% of the $330 million with no VWAP pricing alternative. The 6,300 retail shareholders could apply for $189 million in stock. Predator Abacus has just under 5% and was deliberately diluted. Joint under-writer JP Morgan also agreed to provide an additional $100m debt facility, something we haven't seen negotiated with many other equity under-writers. The special placement allocations announcement didn't reveal anything meaningful about what proportion of the placement went to new shareholders. Ended up accepting all $48 million of SPP applications, so a 60% expansion beyond the original $30m cap. See SPP outcome announcement which didn't include any participation data. Stock finished the year at $1.91 so a solid return. 6/10.

June 2, 2020: Australian Finance Group (AFG): $60 million raising comprising a $15 million placement at a 17.3% discount of $1.15 followed by a non-renounceable 1-for-5.5 at $1.15 with certain insiders partially under-writing the retail offer. Retail can't apply for overs which is a bad thing, particularly with insiders under-writing the guaranteed shortfall. The retail offer was 78% subscribed with $10.1 million raised and an additional $2.96 million coming from the under-writers. With the shares at $1.70 when the retail outcome was announced, this ended up being heavily dilutive for retail investors when combining the impact of the placement, the size of the discount and the retail shortfall. Stock finished the year at $2.63 so offer was massively under-priced. 2/10.

May 29, 2020: Ingenia (INA) $150 million placement at $3.45 followed by a $25 million SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to the 5 day VWAP leading up to the May 29 close. This only proposes giving retail 14.3% of the $175 million capital raising when a $109.8 million entitlement offer last year suggested retail owned 16.7% of the register at the time. However, this would have been diluted by the accompanying $21.3m placement at the time, plus the fact that the $18.4 million retail component finished 26% short after applications for additional shares were limited to 15% of an entitlement. Only has about 3500 holders so the theoretical maximum for the SPP is $105 million and the company ended up accepting all $27.9 million in SPP applications, marginally lifting the $25 million cap. Only about 30% of shareholders participated even though it was more than 20% in the money. Stock finished the year at $4.92 so solid returns for participants. 5/10

May 29, 2020: Dicker Data (DDR) $50m placement at $6.70, a 6.7% discount to the last trade of $7.18. Placement only comprises 4.6% of issued capital and to be followed by a $5m SPP at the placement price of a 2% discount to VWAP closing on May 29. With 7000 retail shareholders, the theoretical maximum in SPP applications is $210 million. Wrote to them on May 7 requesting some transparency measures and that the $5m SPP cap be lifted. In the end, the cap was lifted from $5m to $15m after $53.7 million came through the door. Scale back was pro rata with a minimum allocation of $1000 worth of shares and good transparency on participation rates which hit an impressive 40.7% with the average application being $15,000. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $10.45 so recipients did well and capital raising probably wasn't needed. 5/10.

May 27, 2020: Newcrest Mining (NCM): $1 billion placement at $26.50 followed by a $100m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. With 54,000 retail holders, the theoretical maximum is $1.62 billion so significant scale back risk with retail only allocated 9.1% of the raising. Wrote to them on May 12 requesting a range of transparency and disclosure measures, including an increase in the $100 million cap, particularly given Newcrest restricted retail investors to just $5000 each during its last SPP in 2009 when the maximum was $15,000. In the end, 15,574 of the 54,107 eligible shareholders applied and with $300 million through the door, they expanded the raising to $200 million and used a scale back formula based on size of holding with no minimum allocation. See outcome announcement which failed to explain how many shares applicants would receive. Stock finished the year at $25.78 so participants slightly under water. 6/10.

May 26, 2020: Lend Lease (LLC): $950 million placement at $9.80 followed by a $200m SPP at $9.80 or a 2% discount to VWAP (last 5 day and last day). Placement is equivalent to 17.2% of capital so ASIC and ASX will have to be provided the allocation spreadsheet. Closes Tuesday May 26 and allotted 7 business days later on Thursday June 4. Wrote to them on April 28 requesting a range of transparency measures and a bit disappointed with the lack of detail in this placement conclusion announcement suggesting some stock was issued to non-shareholders, in contrast to what NAB did. In the end, the SPP attracted $429.4 million in applications and the board lifted the $200 million cap to $300 million and refunded $129.4 million. This meant retail contributed 24% of the $1.25 billion capital raising. The board said this was "designed to maintain the relativity between retail and institutional shareholders after the equity raising to what it was immediately prior to the equity raising". Indeed, but why didn't they propose that from the start? Stock finished the year at $13.10 so participants did well. 6/10.

May 26, 2020: Charter Hall Social Infrastructure (CQE): $100m placement comprising 15% of issued capital at $2.20, a 7.6% discount to the last close of $2.38, followed by a $15m SPP at $2.20 or a 2% discount to VWAP on either the closing date or the last 5 days, which ever is lower. Requested an increase in the SPP cap but also thanked them for adopting VWAP pricing after sister REIT Charter Hall Retail didn't offer this the previous week. End up accepting all $23.1 million in SPP applications. See announcement. Has some history with lifting capped SPPs, after it set a $5m cap on an offer earlier in 2020 but then received $19.3m in applications, which were all commendably accepted. Stock finished the year at $3.67 so one of the better returns from a property trust. 6/10

May 22, 2020:NAB (NAB): $3 billion fixed price placement at $14.15 followed by $500m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. The 500,000-plus retail shareholders owned 48% of the bank before the placement and if they all apply, more than $15 billion will come through the door even though retail are only being allocated 14.3% of the raising. Wrote to the board on April 27 requesting an increase in the SPP cap and good detail in this placement conclusion announcement which commendably disclosed that no shares were allocated to non-shareholders. NAB has a history of SPP scalebacks, particularly in 2009 when it maintained a $750 million cap despite receiving $2.6 billion in applications. In the end, 155,000 shareholders applied for $2.9 billion worth of stock and the board lifted the cap to $1.25 billion using a pro-rata scale back method based on size of holding but with a minimum allocation of $2500. See outcome announcement. The $1.65 billion refund was only beaten by NAB's own $1.85 billion refund in 2009. Good transparency in the outcome announcement besides not releasing a table showing how many shares applicants would be allocated based on the size of their holding. Board announced a $2.5 billion on-market buy back in August 2021 when the stock had recovered to $26, confirming how the panicked and unfair raising was ridiculously discounted. 3/10.

May 21, 2020: Infomedia (IFM): $70 million placement at $1.50 followed by a $30,000 SPP for retail investors capped at $15 million and with alternative pricing based on a 2% discount to VWAP. Wrote to the company and received a considered reply including disclosure that 2% of the placement went to non-shareholders and retail owned 35% of the company before the placement was launched, suggesting an increase in the cap might be in order given that it only envisages retail receiving 17.6% of the $85 million capital raising. Was only marginally in the money so demand of $13.9 million was less than the cap so no scale back. Excellent participation data. See outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $1.93 so a good return for participants. 6/10.

May 21, 2020: Charter Hall Retail (CQR): $275 million placement at $2.90 followed by a $25m SPP at the same price with no VWAP alternative. Closed May 21 and allotted May 28. Engaged over the lack of a VWAP alternative but management declined to make any changes. In the end they lifted the cap and accepted at $29.4 million in applications. See outcome announcement. Declined to provide precise data on participation rates. Stock finished the year at $3.67 delivering a solid gain for participants. 5/10

May 21, 2020: Qube (QUB): a $500 million 1-for-6.35 non-renounceable entitlement offer at $1.95 with retail investors invited to apply for additional shares equivalent to 100% of entitlement. Canada's CPP declined to participate in the $264 million accelerated institutional offer but there was 99.3% demand for the balance and "overwhelming demand" for the shortfall. No disclosure as to how the shortfall and CPP's entitlement was allocated in this ASX announcement. The $236 million retail offer to the 27,000 holders closes on May 21 and is allotted on May 28. The average retail offer will be for $8740 worth of new shares with applicants able to apply for double this under the "overs" component which will hopefully ensure it doesn't short. The stock soared to $2.56 after the suspension was lifted so being 31% in the money, let's hope the board runs a strong marketing campaign to maximise participation. Wrote to the company on May 5 and received a considered reply from the CFO pointing out that there hadn't been a shortfall in two previous entitlement offers which had an overs limit of 100% of entitlement. He was right. The entitlement take-up was a staggering 83% and this soared to 138% with the overs, leading to a scale back based on size of holding. See announcement. Stock finished the year at $2.94 which was a solid performance and kind of academic given high participation and pro-rata structure spread the gains evenly. 7/10

May 20, 2020: Ramsay Healthcare (RHC): Launched a $1.2 billion institutional placement on April 22 at a 12.9% discount of $56, under-written by JP Morgan. A $200 million SPP will follow at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP over the last 5 days of the offer. Ramsay has 80,273 shareholders so the theoretical maximum application for the SPP is worth $2.4 billion and they ended up receiving $695 million after 41,877 shareholders applied for an average amount of $16,596. The $200 million was lifted to $300 million, meaning $395 million was still refunded based on size of holding but with a minimum allocation of $560. Had a number of exchanges with the company and the outcome was reasonable, including excellent transparency on participation rates in the outcome announcement. Stock finished the year at $62.18 so only marginal gains for participants. 6/10

May 20, 2020: Monash IVF (MVF): Unveiled an emergency $80m capital raising at 52c, a hefty 26.8% discount to the previous trade of 71c. Comprised a $39.8m placement and a $40.2m 1-for-3 entitlement offer with retail able to apply for overs of 100% of entitlement. Closed May 20. Good disclosure in the outcome announcement which showed a 43% take up of the $15 million retail offer comprising $5.3 million in entitlements and $1.2 million in overs which would have been higher if not limited to 100% of entitlement. Stock finished the year at 78c so solid returns for participants. 5/10

May 15, 2020: Centuria Industrial (CIP): Unveiled a $130m placement at a floor price of $2.54 (an 8% discount) on April 9 2020 but at least the final price was set by a bookbuild and came in at $2.62. A $10 million SPP followed capped at $30,000 per investor, even though the company did an earlier UPP within the past 12 months. There is no VWAP pricing alternative and the raising is under-written by Moelis and JP Morgan. REITs value their assets every six months and really shouldn't be raising capital at a discount to NTA but that is what Centuria did given the NTA was $2.83 as at December 31. This outfit also called an EGM in February 2020 to approve an earlier $154m placement at $3.41 in December 2019 to help fund the purchase of some Arnotts properties. This was not followed by an SPP. Naughty. The latest SPP ended up raising $8.3 million at $2.62 so there was scaleback as this was below the $10m cap. Stock finished the year at $3.09 so investors did well. See announcement. 6/10

May 15, 2020: Bapcor (BAP): Completed $180m institutional placement at a fixed price of $4.40 and will follow with a $30m SPP which has three pricing options: placement price, 5-day VWAP and last day VWAP. With around 16,000 retail holders, the maximum application is around $480 million. Retail have only been allocated 14.3% of the proposed $210 million capital raising when retail had 30.7% or $67 million of the renounceable $218 million entitlement offer back in 2015. Strong grounds to lift the cap, which they duly did, accepting $56 million of the $122 million in total applications and using a scale back formula giving all applicants a minimum of $1000 worth of shares and 50% of their current holding after that. See announcement. Stock finished the year at $7.78 so a boomer for investors. 6/10

May 15, 2020: Metcash (MTS): $300 million placement at fixed price of $2.80 under-written by Macquarie followed by a $30m SPP at $2.80 or a 2.5% discount to the 5-day VWAP. Claimed that 95% of the placement went to existing shareholders although no idea how strict the pro-rata allocation policy was. Stock traded at a discount throughout the offer period and ended up being priced at $2.28, an 18.2% discount to the placement price. Only 6.3% of holders or 1214 contributed $13.6 million to the SPP which ended up comprising just 4.3% of the overall $313m capital raising. See SPP outcome announcement which had excellent transparency. Stock finished the year at $3.38 so solid returns for investors. 6/10.

May 13, 2020: Invocare (IVC): A $150 million placement at $10.40 followed by a $30,000 SPP capped at $50 million. The SPP has an innovative 3rd pricing alternative of VWAP -2% on the closing date, as well as the placement price and a 2% discount to the 5 day VWAP. The stock was trading below the placement price in late April so the VWAP pricing alternatives is likely to come into play. With 24,000 retail holders the theoretical maximum is $720 million. Ended up accepting all $74 million in applications at the placement price of $10.40, even though this exceeded the $50 million cap and the offer was barely in the money. Stock finished the year at $11.45 so investors marginally in front. 6/10

May 13, 2020: Capitol Health (CAJ): announced a $40 million capital raising at 16c comprising a $30 million placement and a $10 million SPP. Failed to disclose what proportion of the placement went to existing holders. Was priced at an 18% discount to the previous close of 19.5c and has remained in the money ever since. Fully under-written by Shaw Stockbroking. Minimum investment of $2500 in the SPP outlined in the offer document and no VWAP pricing alternative. The SPP outcome announcement was a little hard to understand with no disclosure of the overall amount applied for. The cap wasn't lifted and all applicants ended up with a maximum allocation of around $16,300. Refunds were initially delayed until June 5 but then this was brought forward to May 25. Stock finished 2023 at 23.5c so investors are well in front.

May 12, 2020: Mesoblast (MSB) Completed a $138 million placement at $3.20 a share, a 7% discount, on May 13 but no sign of any follow-on SPP. Very disappointing as this is the largest stand alone placement we have seen this year where retail shareholder have been completely excluded. The company's 13,000 retail shareholders were also excluded from a $75 million placement in 2019 so it has form when it comes to diluting retail shareholders. Stock closed at $3.67 on July 10 so clear dilution and lost value for retail shareholders. Stock finished 2023 at 31c so investors have now dropped more than $500 million in this outfit given multiple other capital raisings undertaken in recent years.

May 11, 2020: QBE Insurance (QBE): Announced a $US750 million placement at the fixed price of $8.25 to be followed by a $US75 million SPP. The insurance giant has a history of scaling back and shafting retail investors in SPPs so it will be interesting to see if the SPP cap is hard or soft. The placement was priced at a 9.4% discount to the previous close of $9.11. The placement was under water with QBE shares trading below $8 in early May so the alternative pricing of a 2% discount to VWAP has come into play. Wrote to the company on April 29 requesting a range of transparency measures but they declined to provide an update on applications to the ASX, or to inform investors about the VWAP pricing on the last day. Ended up receiving $91 million priced at $7.51 an 8% discount to the $8.25 placement price. Stock finished 2023 at $14.81 so participants are well in front.

May 8, 2020: SCA Property (SCP) $250 million placement at $2.16 after a bookbuild with a $50m SPP to follow at $2.16 with no VWAP alternative. Receives a 6/10 because of the bookbuild which limited the discount and proved to be well priced in the aftermarket with the stock only trading around the placement price. Wrote to the CEO and CFO on May 7 and pleased with the detail in this SPP outcome announcement disclosing that the offer went to 60,000 holders and 3.9% or 2350 applied for $29.3 million worth of stock. Stock hsa been renamed Region Re (RGN) and finished 2023 at $2.26 so little growth in 3 years.

May 8, 2020: Electro Optic Systems (EOS) Completed a $134 million placement at $4.75 managed by Citi followed by $10 million SPP closing on May 8 and allotted on May 14. With 8,357 shareholders, allocating just 7.46% of the capital raising to retail investors seems pretty skinny but the cap was ignored in the end. There was a VWAP pricing alternative but no discount besides being rounded down to the nearest cent. Good disclosure at the end with the offer sent to 8,357 holders and attracting $10.78 million from 740 applicants who paid the VWAP price of $4.40, a 35c discount to the placement price. Stock finished 2023 at $1.04 after dreadful performance so investors have done their shirts.

May 4, 2020: IDP Education (IEL): announced a $175m placement at $10.65 and then lifted this to $225 million, whilst retaining the cap on its subsequent SPP at just $15 million. Macquarie collected a $5 million fee based on a 2.2% commission. The discount on the day was 7.9% against the previous closing price of $11.56 and the expanded placement equated to 8.3% of the shares on issue. The $30,000 SPP closes on May 4 and was well in the money throughout the offer period. The higher education provider floated off by Seek a few years back defends the $15m SPP cap on the basis that retail shareholders only own about 4.8% of the stock, yet are getting 6.25% of the raising. Fair point, although it really should be measured on the free float, given that Universities Australia owned 49% before the raising was launched but is now down to around 46%. Good disclosure in the outcome announcement revealing the offer was sent to 2949 shareholders and 1292 applied for $34.5m in stock with a scale back to $29 million based on the size of holding although every shareholder received a minimum of 235 shares. The participation rate was 44% and average application was $26,702. The placement came with an expanded bank facility and deferral of the $41 million interim dividend, so there was some genuine financial waves to contend with. Stock finished 2023 at $20.03 so participants have almost doubled their money.

May 4, 2020: Megaport (MP1) Unveiled a $50m placement on April 8 2020 at $9.50, an 8.9% discount to the previous close of $10.43. A $30,000 SPP at $9.50 will follow, capped at $15 million. The company has a history of scaling back SPPs and doing placements without SPPs. In December 2019 it did a $62m placement at $8.70 (a 4.8% discount) with no SPP and on March 14 2019 it did a $50m placement at $4 a share but then limited the SPP to $10m and $15,000 a pop. It was heavily scaled back after $47.6m in applications were received. The placement capacity was refreshed at the 2019 AGM. Wrote to the company lobbying for the cap to be lifted and after $99 million poured in, the $15 million cap was expanded by 50% to $22.5 million, meaning $76.5 million was still refunded. See SPP outcome announcement. Stock finished 2023 at $9.20 so the stock has gone slightly backwards since the raising, partly because the founder Bevan Slattery has sold so many shares.

May 1, 2020: Flight Centre (FLT): The $700 million Flight Centre capital raising included a $282 million placement at $7.20 which diluted retail shareholders and a $418 million 1-for-1.72 non-renounceable entitlement offer at the same price, which was a 27.3% discount to the last traded price of $9.91. The three founders – CEO Graham Turner, Geoff Harris and Bill James – went into this crisis owning a combined 42% of the company and collectively committed $25 million of their $175 million entitlement, diluting themselves into the raising. The total number of shares on issue almost doubled. There is also an ability for retail investors to apply for overs equivalent to 25% of their entitlement, which is way too restrictive from a small shareholder perspective. The founders went in through the institutional offer which was 96% subscribed by eligible instos. They should have gone in through the retail offer and also tucked into the 25% "overs". The $138 million retail offer finished 23% short, attractive $106 million from 13,116 applicants (there were about 22,000 shareholders listed in last year's annual report), including $14 million through the needlessly constrained overs facility which was capped at just 25% of entitlement. The under-writers Macquarie and UBS were on a winner with the stock trading around $10, well clear of the $7.20 offer price. Stock finished 2023 at $20.36 so participants have almost tripled their money.

May 1, 2020: G8 Education (GEM) On the day last trading day before Easter, G8 Education came up with a $301 million capital raising comprising a $134 million placement and a $167 million 1-for-2.2 entitlement offer which comprised $89 million from institutions and $79 million for retail. So, this was a retail heavy register that started with retail owning 47.3% of the company and will finish with 30-something depending on the size of the retail shortfall. The placement was a tolerable 44.5% of the raising which wasn't as bad as Oil Search but still on the high side. As usual, there was no renounceability and the discount was a hefty 26% with the offer at 80c against a last trade of $1.08. The institutional component of the retail offer was 99.7% subscribed. The retail overs were limited to just 25% of the entitlement and with the stock trading around the 80c issue price, it finished $50 million short, attracting just $25 million from 4198 applicants. There were about 22,000 shareholders listed in the last annual report. At least the retail offer was barely in the money, meaning that the placement wasn't given away too cheaply. The under-writers RBC and UBS were left with a chunk of stock which would have been farmed out to sub-under-writers when the deal was first launched. Stock finished 2023 at $1.18 so participants are well in front.

May 1, 2020: Dacian Gold: (DCN) There's been a good deal of shareholder anger about the $98 million capital raising because the stock last traded at $1.40 on January 31 before it was suspended. The $98 million raising was priced at 30c and comprised a $30 million placement and a $68 million entitlement offer, $28 million of which was for retail and had unlimited "overs". Retail offer ended up being 74% subscribed, even with unlimited overs, so the $7.3 million shortfall went to the under-writers. Despite a request, no disclosure on how many shareholders applied or the breakdown between entitlements and "overs". Stock is no longer listed.

April 30, 2020: NextDC (NXT) did a $672 million placement at $7.80 which represented 25% of shares on issue making use of emergency COVID relief even though stated reason was “to pursue growth initiatives”. The $15m in transaction fees (2.2% of total proceeds) seemed excessive given the under-writers were on risk for just 24 hours and the offer was pitched at a 15% discount to the previous close. The changes to the capital raising rules were meant to help distressed companies so what on earth was booming data centres company Next DC doing unveiling a $672 million placement when it hasn't been hit by the Covid-19 crisis at all? The best thing about the Next DC raising is that the follow-on SPP was uncapped. Next DC had about 16,500 retail shareholders so the maximum theoretical participation was around $500 million and with two days to go the company advised that $86m had already come through the door. There was talk of anger amongst Next DC's institutional shareholders, some of whom weren't accommodated. That's the problem with placements. It's a secretive share allocation process. If giving away part of the company to non-shareholders, at least there should be some disclosure as to who took the shares. The SPP closed on April 30 and attracted $190 million in applications with no scale back. The participation rate was an impressive 51% as the company embraced best practice disclosure by revealing 8,684 of the 17,015 eligible shareholders applied. Stock finished 2023 at $13.73 so participants in this raising have done well.

April 28, 2020: Salt Lake Potash (SO4): Completed a $20 million placement at 34c on April 28 but declined to even offer retail shareholders an SPP. Shameful. Stock is no longer listed.

April 28, 2020: De Grey Mining (DEG): $31.2 million placement at 28c on April 28 with no follow up SPP. Stock finished 2023 at $1.255 with a market cap of $2.32 billion so was a great raising to back in hindsight for the instos and appalling that retail were completely excluded.

April 27, 2020: Oil Search (OSH): One of the key measures for fairness in capital raisings is the size of the placement compared with the size of the entitlement offer. Ideally, there would be no placement at all, but if there has to be one, it should comprise no more than one third of the offer. Oil Search has been one of the worst offenders on this front when it launched a $760 million placement which was almost double the size of the 1-for-8 entitlement that raised an additional $400 million. A 1-for-8 is nothing. It clearly should have been the other way around with the a placement of no more than $400 million and an entitlement offer raising double that amount. It is just appalling that in a $1.16 billion offer, retail investors are being offered only 6.9% of the raising ($80 million out of $1.16 billion) when we started out owning 20% of the company. The placement of 362 million new shares at a 23% discount of $2.10 also represented 23.74% of the pre-issue capital so it would have been illegal earlier this year. All up, this is shocker, with the only minor saving grace being that retail shareholders are being offered "overs" which are capped at 200% of their entitlement. The company agreed to a request to publish this progress announcement to the ASX revealing that the offer was 20% subscribed with a week to go. The institutional component of the $320 million entitlement offer was 95% subscribed excluding largest shareholder Mubudala (Abu Dhabi sovereign fund) which didn't participate. Despite being heavily in the money, the retail offer fell $0.5 million short with applications for entitlements totalling $39.4 million and "overs" coming in at $40.1 million. This is a clear lesson about the need for unlimited "overs" when an offer is non-renounceable. See announcement. Stock was taken over by Santos in 2022, which continues to disappoint and is now in takeover talks with Woodside.

April 27, 2020: Southern Cross Media (SXL): $169m raising at 9c comprising a $47 million placement and a $121 million entitlement offer. The placement comprised a ridiculous 68% of the pre-raising shares (522 million shares at 9c against 768.7m before the raising was launched). Stock had doubled to 18c by April 15 so massive dilution for retail shareholders. Non participants receive no compensation. Institutions took up 92% of their entitlements to the $102 million entitlement offer leaving an $8.16 million shortfall with the unknown sub-under-writers. The $20 million retail offer will no doubt finish well short given the lack of overs. Have asked them to crank up a solid marketing campaign and was delighted when they released this announcement to the ASX revealing the offer had been 18.6% subscribed with a week to go. The final announcementrevealed 66% of the shares were taken up but gave nothing on the numbers who participated. The $6.8 million shortfall went to the under-writers and with the 9c shares trading at 12-13, it was money for jam for them. Stock finished 2023 at 99.5c but after a 10-for-1 consolidation this hasn't been good for investors.

April 24, 2020: Reece (REH): The plumbing supplies giant has shown how to do it, becoming the first issuer to ever follow an institutional placement with an entitlement offer that was also twinned with an SPP for retail. The detail is all spelt out here but this is very bold for a capital raising because it sets the precedent which says: “any company which does an institutional placement should also do an SPP on the same terms, regardless of whether there is an entitlement offer thrown into the mix as well.” Normally, after a placement, retail will get a token SPP or there will be an entitlement offer if the situation is more pressing, just like occurred so many times during the GFC. But we never get both. Asciano is the only issuer I can think of that did a make-good SPP after a placement/entitlement combo but it wasn't at the time same. Here is the 2009 SPP outcome announcement explaining how the Asciano offer was scaled back from $290 million to $100 million but retail shareholders had still successfully topped up after the earlier dilutive placement and entitlement offer. Tellingly, then Asciano chairman Tim Poole is now deputy chair of Reece. The $600 million Reece package involved a $368 million placement at the fixed price of $7.60, which was a 12.5% discount to the last closing price of $8.69. There was also a 3-for-55 non-renounceable entitlement offer at the same price to raise $232 million and the $42 million institutional component was more than 99% subscribed. The three Wilson brothers were collectively in for their full $170 million slice of that, coming in through the $190 million retail offer. The Wilsons were diluted down from 73% to 67% by the placement and a little further by the SPP. The 4,894 eligible Reece retail shareholders had a theoretical maximum take-up of $147 million in the SPP which wasn't capped. In the end, 1,991 of them applied for $47 million worth of SPP shares with an average application of $23,600 and a healthy take up rate of 40.6%. The $20 million retail entitlement offer (ex Wilsons) also had unlimited overs and the scale back formula saw all applicants receive a minimum of $15,000 worth of additional shares, although it was not disclosed how many shareholders participated in the entitlement offer, which finished 64% subscribed as $12.8 million came through the door, along with an extra $10 million in applications for additional shares. See outcome announcement. Stock finished 2023 at $22.39 so investors have done well.

April 24, 2020: Auckland Airport (AIA): the first issuer to embrace price discovery when it launched a $NZ1 billion placement, under-written at the floor price of $NZ4.50 but where the final price was set by a competitive book build which came in at $NZ4.66, the top of a 16c indicative range given to bidders. A $NZ50,000 SPP for retail followed to raise up to $NZ200 million. Wrote to the company requesting that the $NZ200m cap be lifted if demand is strong. Was well in the money at the close and they imposed a heavy scale back after receiving $NZ489 million in applications from 32,619 holders. The average application was only $NZ15,000 and the scale back was based on size of holding. See announcement. Stock finished 2023 at $A8.13 so investors almost doubled their money.

April 23, 2020: Cochlear (COH): an $880 million placement at $140, followed by a $50 million SPP which is patently too small. Failings were not having a bookbuild to set the placement price, unfairly limiting the SPP and allocating too many shares to a single London-based fund manager, Veritas Asset Management, which picked up an astonishing 34% of the $880 million Cochlear placement. We only know this because Veritas launched a buying splurge shortly before and after the placement to finish up with a 5.57% stake which was above the 5% substantial shareholder rule in Australia and was therefore disclosed to the ASX on April 2. It really is offensive that 36,724 retail shareholders were proposed to be limited to $50 million, when one London fund manager was given more than 6 times that amount of shares in a discounted placement. In the end, Cochlear received $417 million in applications from 16,651 shareholders, a 45% participation rate. The board lifted the SPP cap to $220 million but still refunded $197 million, the bulk of which went to smaller shareholders because the allocation formula favoured bigger holders. All is explained in this 3 page ASX announcement from Cochlear at the end of the offer, which did well on the transparency front. Retail finished up receiving 20% of a $1.1 billion capital raising which the board claimed doesn't material change the pre-raising allocations. I suspect retail had a touch more than 20% before the placement launch and it remains remarkable that board seriously thought it could limit retail to just $50m. Do the maths. If all 36,724 holders had applied for the maximum $30,000 new shares in the SPP, that would have brought in $1.1 billion. The majority of Cochlear's shareholders, 20,073 in fact, didn't bother applying at all and they are the biggest losers in Australia's capital raising system. Only a renounceable offer would fairly compensate these investors, many of whom are never even told about the offer by their financial adviser or fund. Stock finished 2023 at $298.67 so participants have done well.

April 21, 2020: Webjet (WEB): raised $346 million broken down into 3 components, $115 million in a placement at $1.70, $116 million from the accelerated institutional entitlement offer at $1.70 and $115m from the 1-for-1 non-renounceable retail offer. Foreign private equity firm Bain took $25m through the placement. Non-participants in the retail offer got nothing but participants could apply for overs equivalent to 100% of their entitlement. The institutional component was 90% subscribed leaving an $11.6 million shortfall which went to unknown parties at no premium. The discounted pricing was the most offensive element because the stock last traded at $3.76 before it was suspended and when it resumed trading it finished the week on April 3 at $2.73, a massive 60% premium to the $1.70 placement price. It used the supersized waiver alongside the new emergency relief to arrive at the placement component of the raising representing 50% (after upsizing the placement and underwritten entitlement offer following strong demand) of shares on issue when the raising was announced. The retail offer closed on April 21 and Webjet attracted strong support with applications worth $86m, plus a further $46.7 million in overs. This led to a $14.5m scale back where investors were cut from 100% overs to 69%. The outcome announcement also included excellent data on participation rates. Unlike with Kathmandu, this strongly in-the-money offer was well supported but there was still 11,427 shareholders who declined an offer to buy new shares at $1.70 when the stock was trading well north of $2. Stock finished 2023 at $7.34 so investors almost quadrupled their money.

April 17, 2020: Kathmandu (KMD): Sometimes existing shareholders just don't have the capacity to participate in a rushed capital raising during a crisis and that can see them massively diluted. That's exactly what happened to New Zealand entrepreneur Rod Duke whose Briscoe business used to be the largest shareholder in retailer Kathmandu with a 16.3% stake. However, with the broader retail sector in crisis, he couldn't afford to participate and was subsequently diluted down to just 6.77% without any compensation. Kathmandu is suffering indigestion after paying $350 million in cash for Rip Curl in November last year and has now embarked on an emergency $NZ207 million capital raising comprising a $NZ30 million placement and a $NZ177m 1.2-for-1 entitlement offer at NZ50c. However, because the offer wasn't renounceable, when Briscoe rejected the offer, its shares were just given away to new investors at NZ50c. Leaving aside the Briscoe shares, institutions took up 96% of their entitlements. The $NZ53 million retail component offered unlimited "overs" but only attracted $NZ26.5m in applications along with $NZ17 million in overs to finish 18% short as investors declined to take up $NZ9.5 million worth of stock which was comfortably in the money. This was another windfall for the under-writers with the stock at around A70c shortly after the retail shares were allotted on April 22. No disclosure on how many shareholders participated. Stock finished 2023 at 70.5c so has been a poor performance since overpaying for Rip Curl.

April 16, 2020: Oohmedia (OML): One of the oldest tricks in the book is for big corporate, institutional or insider shareholders to creep up a share register by under-writing the retail component of a non-renounceable entitlement offer. That is what we got with the emergency $167 million raising from debt-laden outdoor advertising company oOH!media, which comprised a $39 million placement at 53c, plus a 1-for-1 entitlement offer for existing shareholders at the same price with no overs. The stock had last traded at 84c before the offer was launched. The ability to apply for extra shares was presumably banned because major shareholder HMI, a US-based investment fund, had aspirations to lift its stake from 18% to 25% and intended to average down its entry price through both the placement and the retail shortfall. Boards should never prioritise under-writers over retail shareholders when it comes to dealing with the retail shortfall. This company made used of the supersized waiver to allow it to make a placement of 30% on the basis that it was also conducting a one-for-one entitlement offer. The accelerated component of the institutional entitlement offer was supported by 91% of institutional shares and raised $117 million. The shortfall was allocated to unknown parties at no premium. The retail component was only worth $14 million and was not renounceable with no overs. All 3400 retail shareholders should have taken up their entitlement but it finished 27% short with $4 million worth of stock going to the under-writers. No disclosure of how many shareholders participated. HMI later sold its 63.85m shares at $1.56 a pop in March 2022, pocketing $99.6 million. The stock finished 2023 at $1.65, so participants have done well.

April 15, 2020: Carbon Revolution (CBR): a $25 million placement at $1.50, followed by a $3m SPP which attracted $2.73 million in applications from 252 shareholders with an average application of $10,833. Only 8.25% of the 3,053 shareholders participated because it was out of the money for part of the offer period and they failed to offer a VWAP pricing alternative. Wrote to them asking for extra transparency on the retail participation rates and was very pleased when they delivered and joined our best practice list. Was delisted in November 2023 after a deal with a US firm and the stock was trading below 10c towards the end, so all up a poor investment.

April 3, 2020: Red 5 Mining (RED) The Perth-based gold miner did a $125 million placement at 18c with no SPP for retail shareholders. This comprised 55.8% of pre-raising capital and therefore needed shareholder approval. Was priced at a 23.4% discount to the last price and the stock was at 21c in mid May so the existing 4800 retail shareholders were badly diluted without compensation. The stock finished 2023 at 31c giving it a market cap of $1.09 billion.

Total for 2020: 120

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