National Grid to raise £350m through issue of new bonds

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) intends to raise £350m of new debt financing through the issue of convertible bonds. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) said the issue may be increased by up to £50m at the option of National Grid North America (NGNA) before pricing. National Grid said that as conversion rights in respect of the bonds will be cash-settled, the issue and conversion of the bonds will not result in the issuance of any new shares of NG or of any other group company.

NGNA plans to use the net proceeds of the offering of the bonds for general corporate purposes and for the purchase of the cash-settled call options.

National Grid said the bonds will be issued at par and the coupon will be determined via an accelerated bookbuilding process in a range from 0.50% to 1.30%.

The initial conversion price will be 30% above the share reference price based on the daily volume-weighted average prices of an ordinary share on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) over a period of ten consecutive scheduled trading days, starting on 25 September.

At 0907 BST, National Grid shares were up 0.1% at 863.10p.