London
Rights issue: Utility firm National Grid has launched a £7bn rights issue, allowing shareholders to buy seven new shares at 645p – a 35% discount to the theoretical share price after adjusting for the dilution – for every 24 already held. The deadline to take up the rights is 11am on 10 June. “Its dash for cash is for a good cause,” says Lex in the Financial Times. “Electricity grids are one of the major bottlenecks of the energy transition.” The firm is investing £60bn between 2025 and 2029 to upgrade its network, almost twice as much as in the four years to 2024. But then, demand for electricity in Britain is set to double by 2050. “With this sort of opportunity ahead, National Grid does not want to find itself counting nickels and dimes.”
The real question is why it doesn’t instead cut back on its annual £2bn dividend, says Chris Hughes on Bloomberg. The rights issue is costing it £165m in underwriting fees. The answer has
