BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX:BSL) has placed its shares in a trading halt as it seeks it to sell shares not taken up from its recent capital raising.
The steel maker unveiled plans last month to raise $600 million through the issue of new shares to institutional and retail shareholders.
BlueScope will now undertake a bookbuild process and trade is expected to resume next week or when the outcome of the bookbuild is known.
The capital raising was launched to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and repay debt after a year that has seen Bluescope’s earnings hit by a strong Australian dollar and raw materials costs and lower steel prices and demand.
In the 2011 financial year Bluescope Steel booked a net loss of $1 billion.
