Kathmandu has raised nearly $90 million from institutional investors via a fully underwritten 1 for 4 pro rata accelerated entitlement offer to help fund its acquisition of Rip Curl.

Eligible institutional shareholders took up 88 per cent of their entitlements, and 92 per cent of eligible institutional shareholders took up their entitlements in full, signalling strong investor support for the $350 million acquisition, which Kathmandu said will expand and diversify the business.

Kathmandu is looking to raise a total of $135 million under the entitlement offer, which allows eligible shareholders to subscribe for one new ordinary share for every four existing shares held as at 5pm on October 3, 2019.

The retail component of the entitlement offer opens on Friday, October 4, and closes on Monday, October 21, with eligible shareholders able to subscribe at an application price of NZ$2.55 per new share ($2.37 for Australian shareholders).

This reflects a 14.4 per cent discount to the volume weighted average price of Kathmandu’s shares traded on the NZX for the last five trading days prior to October 1, 2019.