King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is acting for Flight Centre on its A$700 million entitlement offer and institutional placement.
The raise comprises a ~$282 million institutional placement and a ~$419 million 1-for-1.74 accelerated pro rata non-renounceable entitlement offer and takes advantage of COVID-19 related relief made available by ASIC and ASX.
A combined M&A and Restructuring team advised Flight Centre on the equity raising and other aspects of its COVID-19 response. The team was led by National Head of Restructuring Tim Klineberg and M&A Partner Paul Schroder with support from Senior Consultant John Humphrey, Head of Public M&A David Friedlander, Special Counsels Amanda Isouard and Gavin Rakoczy, Senior Associates Shabarika Ajitkumar, Mark Vanderneut and John Arthur, and Solicitors Stacey Stellatos, Georgia Feltis, Stephanie Rigg and Jing Wang.
Commenting on the deal Tim Klineberg said: "With the capital raising and new funding announced today, Flight Centre is positioned to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel and trading restrictions imposed by governments that are impacting the travel sector. It has been a privilege for our team to support Flight Centre to achieve this result."
Further commenting on the capital raising, Paul Schroder said: "The combination of these initiatives is expected to ensure Flight Centre can trade through an extended period of uncertainty and disruption, can continue to deliver high quality travel services to customers and can capitalise on opportunities as market conditions improve."
Flight Centre went into trading halt on the ASX on 19 March 2020 and today outlined full details of its response plan to COVID-19 of which the capital raising is an integral part. Flight Centre also secured a $200 million extension to its debt facilities (advised by Allen & Overy's banking team).
KWM continues to advise ASX listed clients on complex, urgent capital raisings, including supporting Auckland Airport and Russell McVeagh, as Australian legal counsel, on Auckland Airport's NZ$1.2 billion institutional placement and share purchase plan, and oOh!media Ltd's A$167 million underwritten equity raising announced on 26 March 2020.
