UK's Mothercare launches 100 mln stg rights issue

LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Baby goods retailer Mothercare on Tuesday launched a 100 million pound ($164 million) rights issue to help fund more store closures and revamps, as it steps up efforts to turn around its struggling British business.

The group said the fully underwritten 9 for 10 rights issue would be set at a price of 125 pence per share, a 34.2 percent discount to its closing price on Monday.

The firm said 45 million pounds of the proceeds would be spent on closing stores and modernising others, with the remainder to be spent on improving IT infrastructure and reducing debt. (1 US dollar = 0.6108 British pound) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by Karolin Schaps)