Rolls-Royce seeks $2.6b in make-or-break share issue

Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce will ask shareholders on Tuesday for GBP2b in a make-or-break attempt to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stopped planes flying and hammered its finances. At stake is the future of a company which has been at the heart of manufacturing in Britain for more than 100 years, making engines that powered World War Two bombers and still drive the country’s fighter jets and nuclear submarines. Investors are expected to back the rights issue, supporting CEO Warren East’s plan to cut 9,000 jobs and close factories to adjust to a lower level of demand from airline customers that fly with Rolls engines on Boeing 787s and Airbus 350s. Shareholder advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have both urged clients to back the fundraising. “We find the terms of the proposed rights issue to be reasonable,” Glass Lewis said in a note, while ISS said the rationale was “compelling”. Investors can buy 10 new shares for every three they own at 32 pence each, a 41% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price. The company, which made a GBP5.4b pound loss in H1 2020, faces a cash crunch at the end of next year, when GBP3.2b of debt needs to be repaid. In a sign of Rolls’s strategic importance, the UK government has guaranteed a GBP1b loan on top of the GBP2b it backed in July through its UK Export Finance arm.<br/>