Housebuilder will not announce cash call at tomorrow’s results but option is still on the table

Persimmon will not launch a rights issue at its full-year results tomorrow, Building understands.

There has been speculation in some quarters of the City that the refinancing deal announced this morning would act as a launch pad from which to ask investors for cash tomorrow morning.

Speculation has mounted that the company would go to the market for cash after a string of rights issues were announced by property groups in recent weeks including Land Securities and British Land.

Despite the fact that there will be no news on the possibility of a rights issue tomorrow, it is understood the housebuilder has not ruled out the option altogether.

This morning the company announced it had renegotiated its banking covenants and agreed a fresh facility of £322m that runs until March 2012.

Persimmon
Persimmon has reportedly not ruled out a rights issue at some point

The company, which has estimated debt of £600m, took the City by surprise with the announcement, which has yet to be formally signed off.

The new facility does not come cheap but the price was not as bad as some had feared. The new estimated interest rate for its combined funding is around 6.4%, an increase of 2.8 percentage points on previous arrangements. It did not disclose what the arrangement fee would be.

In total it will have committed funding lines of £1.085bn, reducing to £560m during 2011.