KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): Homegrown cakes and snack food producer London Biscuits Bhd has fixed the issue price for the first tranche of its proposed private placement, comprising 8 million placement shares, at RM1 apiece.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, London Biscuits said the issue price represents a premium of some 19.19% from the five-day weighted average market price of about 83.9 sen.

London Biscuits had on July 31 announced its private placement plan to raise some RM16.35 million, of which RM10 million will be used to repay bank borrowings within six months, while another RM6.15 million will be for a year’s working capital, with the remaining RM200,000 for estimated expenses.

The private placement, which will be implemented in tranches within six months, will involve the issuance of up to 16.35 million shares, representing a 9.9% stake to third party investors, to be identified later.

Shares of London Biscuits fell 0.5 sen to close at 83.5 sen today, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM136.6 million.