COMPANIES The Swiss-based mining group Xstrata announced a heavily discounted two-for-one rights issue to raise £4.1bn ($5.9bn) on Thursday and also said pre-tax profits had fallen 36 per cent year-on-year in 2008 to $5.17bn.
The fully underwritten issue of 1.96bn new shares at £2.10 represents a 66 per cent discount to Wednesday’s closing price of £6.23.
