Newcastle Investment (DS -6.03%) has priced a new, 35-million-share issue of its common stock at a gross amount of $174 million, which amounts to $4.97 per share, the company announced Wednesday.
Additionally, the company's underwriters have been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 5.25 million common shares to cover over-allotments, if any. Newcastle said it plans to use the proceeds of the issue for "general corporate purposes." This includes investments in assets such as housing properties and real estate securities. The company said it expects the investments to "primarily include acquisitions of senior housing properties."
As of this writing, Newcastle's stock trades at $5.02 per share, and the company has just more than 253 million shares outstanding.
The joint book-running managers of the issue are Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, and the Securities units of Credit Suisse and UBS. The offering is expected to close on June 17.
