Britain’s Ocado to raise 1 billion pounds in equity and bond issue

LONDON (Reuters) – Ocado , the British online supermarket and technology group, plans to raise just over 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) through an equity raise and bond issue to give it the firepower to take advantage of future opportunities.

The group said on Wednesday it would raise about 657 million pounds through an equity placing and retail offer and about 350 million pounds through the issue of guaranteed senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2027.

Ocado said the funds will provide it with the “financial flexibility to capitalise on opportunities arising from the significant acceleration in online adoption and grow faster over the medium term”.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jan Harvey)