Pub group Punch Taverns this morning announced plans to raise around £350m through a rights issue.
The cash raised will allow the group to meet a bond repayment due next year and buy back as many as its convertible bonds as possible.
Punch is the second group to make look to raise equity through a share placing in recent months. In April, Greene King raised £208m through a discounted rights issue.
Shares in Punch Taverns opened 12.5 per cent or 18½p lower at 130p in early trading on Monday.
Goldman Sachs International and Merrill Lynch are advising on the placing.
