36 SPPs priced on VWAP at a discount to earlier placement

Alpha HPA (A4N), June 2024: initially announced a $120m placement but upped this to $175m after strong demand. Was priced at 90c, a 10% discount to the previous close of $1. The second tranche of $111m required shareholder approval at a physical EGM held on June 24. An uncapped SPP followed with the additional benefit of secondary pricing based on 2% discount to VWAP, which kicked in when it was priced at 84c for the $5.32m in applications that arrived, 6c discount to the 90c placement price.


5G Networks (5GN), 2020: $18.3 million placement at $1.23 followed by a $4m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP. 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.

Afterpay, 2018: retail paid $16.96 for $25 million in a scaled back SPP based on a VWAP with no discount after an earlier $117 million institutional placement at $17. See announcement.

Alliance Aviation Services, 2020: $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.

AMP, 2003: raised $95.7 million from retail investors based on a $5000 SPP priced at $4.82, which was a 5% discount to VWAP based on the 15 days of trading after the offer closed. UBS under-wrote the SPP to the tune of $550 million so it picked up the balance. There was an earlier $1.2 billion institutional placement at $5.50 in May 2003, so retail received a 12.3% discount but the take-up from AMP's 900,000 shareholders at the time was modest.

ANZ, 2015: The ANZ SPP ended up raising $720 million at $26.50, a healthy 14.4% discount to the earlier $2.5 billion institutional placement at $30.95 which subsequently became the subject of some ASIC enforcement action. Investors were offered a 2% discount to VWAP in the SPP and the original $500 million cap was lifted to $720 million so there were no scale backs. This is the biggest ever VWAP priced SPP.

Audinate, 2020 (AD8): $40m raising comprising a $28m placement at $5.15 and then a $12m SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP which ended up being priced at $5.12. No disclosure of total subscriptions or participation data in the SPP outcome announcement. All we know is that the $12m cap was retained and those with less than 50 shares received nothing but everyone else got 61% of their existing holding.

Bank of Queensland, 2019: $250m placement at $7.78 which was followed by an $89.7m SPP which was priced at $7.27 based on a 2% discount to VWAP. Therefore, retail ended up paying 51c or 6.55% less than the institutions.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, 2020: after a $250m placement at $9.34, the SPP was offered at a 2% discount to VWAP and raised $44.8 million at $6.72, a hefty 28% discount to the institutional price. See announcement.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, 2012: after a $150m placement at $8.45, the SPP was offered at a 2.5% discount to VWAP. The needlessly constrained $7000 SPP ended up raising $46 million at $7.43 so this was a useful 12% discount to what the institutions paid. See announcement.

Calix (CXL) 2022: initial capital raising was a $60m placement at $4.55 on October 19, an 11% discount to the previous close of $5.12. Stock then tanked on October 28 after Albanese 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. 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.

Challenger Financial Group, 2014: raised $250 million in a placement at $7.53 but then the $15,000 SPP was offered with a 2.5% discount to VWAP. The pricing finished at $7.10, a 5.71% discount to what the institutions paid. The soft cap of $30 million was lifted to accept all of the $40 million in applications. See announcement.

Challenger (CGF), 2020: A $270 million placement at $4.89, an 8.1% discount to the previous close of $5.32, followed by a $30 million SPP with a secondary pricing based on a 2% discount to the 5-day VWAP. 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 11.6% discount to the $4.89 paid by instos in the earlier $270m placement.

CSL, 2022: $30,000 SPP at $273 or a 2% discount to VWAP following a $6.3 billion placement to fund the $16 billion Vifor acquisition. SPP capped at $750 million and received $942.67 million from 56,180 applicants. Rejected $192 million in applications and the final price was $253.57, a 7.1% discount to the placement price.

Domino's Pizza, 2022 (DMP): $150m placement at floor price of $65.05 with a $15m following SPP. 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 was $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.

Evolution Mining (EVN), January 2024: $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.


Home Consortium (HMC), 2020: $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. Ended up only receiving $10.63m in SPP applications based on a VWAP price of $2.83, a 5c discount to the placement. See SPP outcome announcement.

Huon (HUO), 2020: $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.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG), 2020: a $650 million placement at $5.50 followed by a $100 million SPP which was uncapped when $125.9 million came through the door and was priced at $4.97 based on a 2% discount to the closing VWAP of $5.07.

Liontown Resources (LTR), 2023: $365m placement at $1.80, a 35.5% discount to the previous close of $2.79 to fund Kathleen Valley lithium project. Announced a $45 million SPP at $1.80 or a 2% discount to VWAP which well and truly came into play after only only $13.8 million came through the door with the pricing at $1.47.

Metcash, 2020: $300 million placement at $2.80 followed by a $30m SPP at $2.80 or a 2.5% discount to the 5-day VWAP. 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. 6/10.

Navigator Global Investments (NGI), May 2022: 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, a 4.5% discount to the placement price.

NIB (NFH), 2022: $150 million raising comprising a $135 million placement at $6.90 followed by a $15m SPP at the lower of the placement price and a 2% discount to the VWAP. Stock at $6.81 on November 4 and SPP was priced at $6.74 with all $23.1m in applications accepted.

Orica, 2020: launched a $500 million placement at $21.19 and the follow-on SPP ended up raising just $17.3 million at $15.93, a 2% discount to the 5-day VWAP and a 24.8% discount to the placement price.

Orica, 2022: $650m fixed price placement at $16, a 7% discount to the previous close of $17.20, followed by an SPP capped at $75 million with a VWAP alternative based on a 2% discount to the last 5 days leading up to the closing date. This ended up being $15.29, a 4.4% discount to the placement price, as $41 million came through the door from 8.7% of eligible shareholders.

Over Fifty Group, 2010: $6.5 million placement at 72c followed by a a $15,000 SPP at 72c or a 10% discount to VWAP which came in at 64c, an 11.1% discount to what the institutions paid. SPP was capped at $4 million but the full $4.28 million in applications were accepted. See announcement.

Pinnacle Investment Management, 2021: 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.

QANTAS, 2020: A $1.36 billion placement at $3.65, followed by a $500m SPP with a 2.5% discount to VWAP. Stock was trading below placement price a week before the close, so board controversially extended the July 22 closing date until August 5. Ended up raising $71.7m at $3.18 with a 5% participation rate. See SPP outcome announcement which adopted best practice transparency as 8,660 of the 173,343 eligible holders contributed an average $8,200 each. 6/10

QBE Insurance, 2020: $30,000 SPP at $8.25 or a 2% discount to VWAP after $US750m placement. Finished up attracting $91.5 million and being VWAP priced at $7.51, an 8.9% discount to the placement price, so QBE joined our growing list of companies where retail paid a lower price than institutions in a capital raising.

Seven Group Holdings (SVW), 2021: $500 million placement at $22.50, followed by $50 million SPP 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.

Steadfast, 2018: $100m placement at $2.83 to fund Whitbread acquisition and subsequent SPP was offered with a 1% discount to VWAP and finished up raising $7.7m at $2.75, a 2.8% discount to the placement price. See announcement.

Steadfast Group, 2022: $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, a 7.4% discount to the placement price.

Tassal, 2019: $108m placement at $4.40 to accelerate prawn farming strategy with a capped $25m SPP at $4.31 (adjusted for distribution) or a 2% discount to VWAP. SPP ended up raising $17.4 million at $4.16. See announcement.

Transurban, 2019: $500 million placement at $14.70 but then retail were offered a $200 million SPP at the same price or a 2% discount to VWAP which finished up settling at $14.64 as per this announcement. All $312 million in applications were accepted, making this one of the few finely priced ASX200 SPPs which was priced based on VWAP but also received applications exceeding the nominated cap.

Vicinity Centres (VCX), 2020: $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.

ZIP (Z1P), April 2022: $30,000 SPP at $1.90 or a 2% discount to VWAP after earlier $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.

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