THE WHAT? ASOS has announced the successful completion of the non pre-emptive placing of ordinary shares in the capital of the company.

THE DETAILS A total of 15,805,943 new ordinary shares were placed by JP Morgan, Numis, Barclays, BMP Paribas and HSBC together, raising some £247 million for the online fashion retailer.

Placing shares were issued at a price of 1,560 pence and represent approximately 18.8 percent of ASOS’s ordinary share capital.

Settlement for the Placing and Admission is expected to take place on or before opening of the London Stock Exchange today.

THE WHY? Together with adding £60-80 million to its revolving credit facility, the move is designed to ensure additional flexibility through the crisis and maintain sufficient liquidity. Although the online fashion retailer has not been affected by store closures, it revealed that sales were down some 20 to 25 percent in the most recent three weeks of trading.