XP Power raises £43.9m in placing, rejects bid approaches

XP Power surged on Tuesday after it raised £43.9m in a placing and said it had received "a small number" of unsolicited expressions of interest which it has rejected.

The company raised the money through a placing of just over 3.8m shares at 1,150p each, which is a premium of around 11% to the closing share price on Monday. It raised an additional £1.5m in a retail offer at the same price.

Proceeds will be used to reduce net debt, improve the group's liquidity position, refinance capital investments and continue to invest in key areas including R&D, the company said.

It also said that since its trading update on 2 October, a small number of parties have expressed indicative, non-binding interest in buying the company "at prices which the board considers fundamentally undervalue the company and its long-term prospects".

Having considered each of the expressions of interest with its advisers, XP Power said it "does not believe that any of them are at a value which merits further engagement with any of those parties and has had no hesitation in unequivocally rejecting them".

At 1158 GMT, the shares were up 23% at 1,275.30p.