Fruit and vegetable giant Costa Group has closed off a bumpy period with the completion of a $176 million capital raising, but Citi analysts have warned of a "challenging year" for some of the company's key crops, including mushrooms.
Costa tapped the market to strengthen its balance sheet, raising about $87 million in last month's institutional entitlement and $66 million in this month's retail entitlement. But this left a gap of about $23 million, which was filled on Thursday after the market closed via a retail shortfall bookbuild run by UBS.
Costa chief executive Harry Debney said the company was pleased to have completed the capital raise, adding that it was focused on executing strategic priorities for long term growth.
"Any successful agribusiness must focus on long term strategies and value creation. We have faced many and varied challenges this year, but we will continue to meet them head on," he said.
Read the full article at the Sydney Morning Herald (Darren Gray)