Thu 16th Apr 2020 - City Pub Group cuts net debt by two-thirds after raising £22m City Pub Group cuts net debt by two-thirds after raising £22m: City Pub Group has cut its net debt by two-thirds after raising £22m in an oversubscribed share placing. A total of 30 million new ordinary shares have been issued under a placing involving current shareholders, raising gross proceeds of £15m. Meanwhile, in excess of 14 million new ordinary shares have been taken up under an open offer, raising gross proceeds of about £7m. The company stated: “Application has been made for 44,015,634 new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected admission will become effective and trading will commence in the new ordinary shares at 8am on 17 April 2020. Following admission, the total number of voting rights in the company is 103,759,425 (excluding 1,925,000 JSOP shares that do not have voting rights). This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the company under the Financial Conduct Authority's disclosure guidance and transparency rules.” Executive chairman Clive Watson said: “We are delighted with the oversubscribed take up of the open offer demonstrating strong support from existing holders in addition to welcoming new shareholders over and above the oversubscribed £15m placing. The net effect of the money raised is the balance sheet has been significantly strengthened with net debt cut by two thirds. We continue to run the business tightly, seeking to reduce the cash burn rate further and negotiations continue with the landlords of our leasehold pubs. We continue to be grateful to all stakeholders in the company at this challenging time and it is our goal to ensure we take advantage of the strong position we now have when the current restrictions are lifted.”