Burford Capital prices its largest-ever capital raising

Financial and asset management firm Burford Capital priced its planned private offering of $400m (£289.93m) of notes on Monday, which it was planning to use for general purposes, including the potential repayment of debt.

The AIM-traded company said the offering would be of 6.25% senior notes due 2028, and would be undertaken by its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary Burford Capital Global Finance.

It said the $400m pricing was an increase of $50m from its previously-announced offering size of $350m.

The notes would be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Burford Capital, as well as its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries Burford Capital Finance LLC and Burford Capital plc.

It said the offering was expected to close on 5 April.

Burford Capital’s board said it intended to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including the potential repayment or retirement of existing debt.

“We are very pleased with our inaugural bond issue in the US institutional market, which represents the largest capital raising in Burford's history,” said chief executive officer Christopher Bogart.

“Despite being a new issuer in that corporate bond market, the world's largest and deepest, we were able to obtain pricing well below initial indication and consistent with our existing debt in a significantly oversubscribed offering.

“Indeed, we increased the deal size from $350m, providing investors with more liquidity, and plan to use the incremental $50m of proceeds to retire existing debt.”

At 0846 GMT, shares in Burford Capital were up 2.3% at 600p.