Travis Perkins is this weekend putting the finishing touches to a £300m rights issue and placing.

The capital raising has been fully underwritten by its financial advisers, HSBC and Citigroup, which has gained preliminary support from some large investors. City sources claim the two banks can expect to share about £12m in fees, depending on how much of it is sub-underwritten in the following weeks.

It is thought investors will welcome the equity raising because some of it will be used to pay down the company’s £1bn debt.

Sunday Times, Independent On Sunday