City hungry for Balfour Beatty shares

Balfour Beatty has succeeded in placing its £353m three-for-seven rights issue, finding buyers for more than 97% of its new shared by the deadline of 11.00 yesterday (22 October).

The rights issue was announced on 17 September since when the company has found takers for 199,469,067 new shares. Its joint bookrunners, J.P. Morgan Cazenove Limited and RBS Hoare Govett Limited, will look for buyers of the remaining 6,033,170 new shares.

In early trading Balfour Beatty shares rose 2.3p to 287.5p.