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* M&B to raise 350 mln pounds through open offer
* Open offer at discount of 36% over last close
* M&B says agrees 150 mln pounds in new credit lines
* Shareholders form majority consortium
* Shares up nearly 6%
(Adds shares, analyst comment, details debt, open offer)
By Tanishaa Nadkar
Feb 15 (Reuters) - Britain's Mitchells and Butlers moved to
raise 350 million pounds ($486 million) in fresh equity and 150
million pounds in new credit lines on Monday to see the
Harvester, Toby Carvery and All Bar One owner through the
coronavirus crisis.
Mitchells and Butlers, whose around 1,600 managed freehold
pubs are predominantly in Britain, said in January it may need
to raise fresh funds as the country's latest coronavirus
lockdown once again shut its pub and restaurants.
Shares in M&B, which also said in a statement that
it had agreed on amendments and waivers with its creditors to
avoid covenant breaches, rose 5.5% to 346.7 pence by 1046 GMT.
The pub operator said Piedmont Inc, Elpida Group and
Smoothfield Holding, which own around 55% of M&B, had formed a
consortium called Odyzean to become its majority shareholder and
would take up the new share issue if other investors did not.
"Without this major equity injection, the prospects for the
business, its 1,600 venues, and over 40,000 UK employees would
be bleak," an Odyzean spokesperson said.
Stifel analyst Mark Irvine-Fortescue said the move by
Odyzean could raise expectations of M&B being taken private.
Others in the hospitality industry, which has been hit hard
by lockdowns in Britain during the coronavirus crisis, have also
had to turn to shareholders to get by. Last month Wetherspoons
was forced into a second cash call.
M&B's combined credit score, which measures how likely a
company is to default in the next year on a scale of 100 (very
unlikely) to 1 (highly likely), was "5" as of Monday, Refinitiv
Eikon data showed.
Odyzean said it will take excess shares not taken up by
other shareholders and it was "fully supportive" of M&B's
management but intends to review the board, which could reduce
the number of non-executives.
M&B will issue about 167 million new shares to existing
shareholders at a subscription price of 210 pence per share,
representing a 36% discount to the stock's last closing price.
The company had net debt of 2.1 billion pounds according to
its annual report and a market capitalisation of 1.41 billion
pounds ($1.96 billion). Its unsecured borrowing facilities of
250 million pounds fall due for repayment in December 2021.
($1 = 0.7190 pounds)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika
Syamnath and Alexander Smith)
