IRISH investors were starved of cash calls for the first five and a half months of the year. Then, in the space of a few days, two rights issues, totalling almost £140 million, were launched by Independent Newspapers and Tullow Oil.
Both are likely to be strongly supported and the respective underwriters, Davy/Bankers Trust and Riada, are unlikely to have to work too hard to justify their hefty underwriting fees.
Usually, when companies launch rights issues, the share price tends to move back to the national ex-rights price of the shares, but both Independent and Tullow have bucked that trend.
Tullow, in particular, has traded in huge volumes - mainly in London - and has risen strongly since the £30 million call was launched.
Tullow has a big overseas fan club, attracted by its spread of interests and the company's canny ability to get into exploration hot spots like Pakistan before the majors.
Another factor behind the growth in the share price is a belief in some quarters that Tullow will inevitably become a takeover target. Tullow's partner in Pakistan, British Gas, has been mentioned most often as a predator.
Independent's rights issue came as no great surprise to a market that has been expecting a cash call for some months, and most attention focused on how Independent would use its financial firepower.
A post rights issue gearing of 14 per cent means that Independent could probably spend well over £300 million and still have a relatively comfortable balance sheet.
Various possibilities have been mooted including buying out Westminster Press, which is being off loaded by Pearson, and even buying out Mirror's 46 per cent stake in the loss making London Independent.
Far more likely, say informed sources, is that that the O'Reilly family interests in APN will be bought for £50-55 million and possibly the family interests in Wilson & Horton for over £100 million.
Elsewhere, it was a slow downward grind for the market, with most Irish investors reluctant to trade in any decent size.
CRH, in particular, suffered from bearish sentiment towards the British building materials sector in the wake of the Wickes and Costain debacles.
CRH has now come 6 per cent off its all time high of a couple off weeks ago but brokers have cautioned that the run up to a 652p peak and the slump to 613p this week have come on tiny volumes.
Crean got another dose of bad news with the loss of the Mars distribution franchise, a loss of business that will cost over £1.1 million in profits.
Shareholders were reassured however, that the Inishtech disposal was on target, with the company confident of getting £90 million.
IAWS, which displaced Crean for the Mars franchise, was not affected by the arrival of the new business or by reports that the group is eyeing up food distribution group Allegro. The acquisition of Allegro - worth around £50 million - would probably be seen as a good move for IAWS, adding a large distribution operation to what is still essentially a manufacturing business.
