Alexander McNab

Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund Limited will raise up to $20 million through a one for three non-renounceable entitlement issue of new ordinary shares.

The Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund (BSAAF) is Australia’s only listed diversified alternatives investment vehicle. The directly-managed portfolio is invested across private equity and venture capital, water and agriculture, hedge funds and private real estate.

Blue Sky chief investment officer Alexander McNab said the raise would be a chance for investors to increase their exposure to alternatives as value in traditional asset classes becomes increasingly hard to find.

“Alternatives are becoming mainstream, they are the fastest growing asset class in Australia. The market is starting to understand the benefits of diversification and the increased returns an allocation to alternatives can bring to a portfolio,” Mr McNab said

“We are getting very positive feedback from the financial community, and there is significant interest from financial planners keen to access Blue Sky’s strong investment track record.

“The capital raised from the BSAAF IPO nine months ago has been fully deployed and the portfolio is performing well. We continue to see attractive investment opportunities in the alternatives sector and this entitlement issue will help feed this pipeline.”

Under the entitlement offer, eligible shareholders have the opportunity to subscribe for new shares at the issue price of $1.00. This represents a discount of 9.4 per cent to the ten day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the company’s shares traded on the ASX over the ten days up to and including 10 April 2015.

The entitlement offer closes at 5pm AEST on Friday 1 May 2015. Any new shares not taken up by the closing date may be made available to those eligible shareholders who took up their full entitlement and applied for additional new shares under a top-up facility. Any shares not taken up by eligible shareholders under the entitlement offer or top-up facility may be offered to sophisticated or professional investors under a shortfall facility.

The new shares will be entitled to receive any dividend in respect of the year ending 30 June 2015, to the extent that any dividend is declared. The BSAAF board currently anticipates a partially franked two to three cent per share year end dividend, subject to ongoing investment performance and portfolio realisations.

Ord Minnett Limited and Morgans Corporate Limited are acting as joint lead managers for this issue.

The Blue Sky Alternatives Access Fund is managed by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited.

The post Blue Sky Listed Investment Company announces new capital raise appeared first on AdviserVoice.