EDF shares fall to all-time low on capital raising

Shares in EDF dropped almost 10 per cent on Wednesday to their lowest ever level, as the French utility begins a €4bn capital raising.

The company initially announced it was planning a capital raising to support investment programmes including the Hinkley Point nuclear project in the UK last April.

On Tuesday EDF announced the terms of the raising, which will see 633m new shares issued at a 34.5 per cent discount to last Friday’s closing price.

Existing EDF shareholders will receive preferential access to the new shares, with subscription rights entitling them to three new shares for every 10 shares held at the end of trading on Tuesday.

Shares in EDF dropped sharply on Wednesday morning as they began trading without offering any rights to the new issue. Shares dropped as much as 9.6 per cent to an all-time low of €7.78, and at publication time were down 8.3 per cent for the day at €7.88.