First Sponsor withdraws rights issue application, reconsiders warrants offering

FIRST Sponsor Group has withdrawn its application for a rights issue involving warrants exercisable into convertible securities, after receiving regulatory feedback on the warrants' suitability for distribution to retail investors, it said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Monday.

The warrants, which were proposed in a Feb 14 filing, would have been exercisable into convertible securities, which would in turn be convertible into conversion shares. This is different from "plain vanilla" warrants which are typically exercisable directly into shares, First Sponsor said.

Taking the feedback into account, the company will be reconsidering the structure of the exercises and will provide further updates in due course.

In its announcement on Feb 14, First Sponsor said it planned to issue about S$148 million in aggregate principal amount of 3.98 per cent perpetual convertible capital securities (Series-2 PCCS), with about 133.7 million free detachable warrants that each carried the right to subscribe for one Series-2 PCCS.

It also announced a bonus issue of nearly 80 million warrants on the basis of one bonus warrant for every 10 shares held, with each bonus warrant carrying the right to subscribe for one Series-2 PCCS.

Shares of First Sponsor Group closed flat at S$1.29 on Monday before the announcement.