British Telecom was handed a boost today after it emerged investors had taken up nearly 90 per cent of its record-breaking rights issue.
The offer, which should cut £5.9 billion sterling from the group's debt, closed to shareholders on Friday morning.
BT said 1.77 billion shares were taken up, around 89.5 per cent of the total offer, with the remainder set to be bought during an international placing this week.
BT has not said how many of its 1.8 million private investors - who control around 17 per cent of the shares - took up the offer.
But estimates suggest the figure could be between one third and a half, with the remainder of the deeply discounted shares being taken up by institutional investors.
The unsold shares are being sold under a joint book running exercise by Cazenove & Co and Merrill Lynch International.
Bids are being accepted either at fixed price, or at a strike price to be determined as soon as possible after the book closes. The book runners will fix an equivalent price in US dollars for the American Depositary shares.
The final allocation will give preference to fixed price tenders over strike price tenders, and to the approximately 250 institutions and LSE members which have pre-registered.
PA