Fastjet's retail investors take bulk of shares in the open offer

Private investors grabbed the majority of shares in the recent £3.9mln open offer from fastjet (LON:FJET), Africa’s low cost airline.

Of the 246mln shares on offer to fastjet shareholders at a cost of 1.6p each, 146mln (59%) were taken up, with the remainder placed with an institutional investor, also at 1.6p per share.

In addition to the net proceeds of the £11 million placing which completed on the 16th April, the £3.9 million proceeds of the open offer and auxiliary placing will provide further funds for the group’s expansion plans and working capital requirements.

The total number of fastjet shares in issue now stands at 1,642mln.

“The response to our open offer from our pre-existing shareholders, and support of a major institutional shareholder in placing the residual of the open offer shares, has been very positive and we are delighted that the majority of individual shareholders have participated, demonstrating strong support for the company and its strategy,” said Ed Winter, chief executive officer and interim chairman of fastjet.

“Following the successful completion of both our fund-raising and open offer, the fastjet board is now fully focused on pushing ahead with our significant expansion plans and growing the business across our target markets,” he added.

In a separate announcement, Standard Life Investments revealed it controls 8.06% of the voting rights in the low-cost African airline.