Newcrest takes advantage of rising gold prices to raise additional funds via a new share issue. Newcrest will raise $500 million by issuing new shares which will be used to repay debt and speed the development of two mines, one in New South Wales and the other in Indonesia. The placement to institutional buyers as well as current share holders will be conducted at a discount of 12.9% to Newcrest’s closing price on the 30 January 2009. Newcrest’s ordinary shares are expected to remain in a trading halt until the opening of trading on 3 February 2009. At the same time Newcrest announced their expected profit to be in the range $235 million to $245 million which is an increase over the previous year’s profit of $207 million. It would appear that every recession cloud has a golden lining. http://www.newcrest.com.au/
