Hydro decided in an Extraordinary General Meeting June 21, 2010, to launch a rights issue to partly finance the transaction and at the same time support the company’s investment grade rating as well as capacity to implement future projects. The rights issue will raise gross proceeds of about NOK 10 billion to the company.
The Norwegian state, represented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, supports the transaction and rights issue. The Parliament (Stortinget) approved the state’s participation in the rights issue with its pro-rata-share (43.4%) on June 17, 2010. The Government Pension Fund Norway (Folketrygdfondet) has, on certain conditions as described in the Prospectus, agreed to underwrite and participate in the rights issue with its pro-rata-share based on its ownership at the time of the agreement (5.8%).
The remaining share of the rights issue is, on certain conditions as described in the Prospectus, underwritten by Citi, DnB NOR Markets, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Nordea, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and Société Générale, if these are not subscribed to by existing shareholders or others. One of the conditions is that the Norwegian state and Folketrygdfondet participates with their respective shares of the rights issue. The rights issue may not be implemented, and subscription rights consequently loose their value, if the conditions are not met.
The subscription price is NOK 26.30 per share. Existing shareholders will receive 7 transferable subscription rights for every 23 existing shares held. One subscription right will entitle the holder to receive allocation of one new share. One Founder Certificate is entitled to receive 38,105 subscription rights and one Subscription Certificate is entitled to receive 2,477 subscription rights.
