St Modwen is looking to raise £102m through a discounted placing of shares in order to secure its balance sheet and position itself for any recovery in the property market.

St Modwen, which is overseeing the development of large industrial sites such as Longbridge in the Midlands, has also renegotiated its banking agreements, which will give extra headroom over any further falls in the value of its assets.

The company will issue 79.6m shares at 135p each – a 38.4% discount to Wednesday’s closing price of 219.25p – with a target of £102.1m net of expenses.

St Modwen said that the new equity would mean there was less need for asset sales at unattractive prices that would otherwise be required to operate within banking covenants.

Financial Times, The Times