Lend Lease has said it planned to raise $302.5 million in an institutional placement.

Proceeds from the capital raising will be used to strengthen the company's balance sheet, after its recent $240 million investment in Lend Lease Primelife, and to fund cost-cutting initiatives, Lend Lease said.

The Sydney-based company said it had issued 50 million new shares at $6.05 each, or a 10.5 per cent discount to the stock's last traded price of $6.76 and a 12 discount to Tuesday's closing price of $6.90.

At the end of the placement, which is fully underwritten, Lend Lease will have net debt of about $200 million and its leverage levels will increase in the next two years, given the company's development pipeline, it said.

Lend Lease's earliest material debt maturity date is November 2010, for £350 million, the company said.

The Australian