Forest City announces it will sell stock at $22.50 per share; dip from $24 close last week

Today, Forest City Enterprises filed a form with the SEC, announcing (as disclosed late yesterday) that the 32.5 million shares of in new stock would be priced at $22.50 per share. 

That should raise more than $700 million for the firm.

The price is a small but not insignificant dip from the $24 figure at which Forest City closed last Friday, before the announcement of a new stock offering.

Yesterday, the stock closed at $22.85, and this morning, pre-market trading is at $22.40 (though such numbers are hardly certain).

The press release:

CLEVELAND, Ohio – May 6, 2015 – Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced the pricing of its previously announced public offering of 32.5 million shares of Class A common stock at $22.50 per share. The company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4.875 million shares. Subject to customary closing conditions, the offering is expected to close on May 12, 2015.
The joint book-running managers for this offering are BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citigroup, Barclays and Morgan Stanley.
The company estimates that net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $701.2 million, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated transaction expenses payable by the company, or approximately $806.5 million if the underwriters’ option is fully exercised. Forest City intends to use up to $400 million of the net proceeds to finance its previously announced acquisition of the 49 percent equity interest of Health Care REIT, Inc. in seven life-science office buildings and two parking facilities at University Park at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It further intends to use remaining net proceeds to pay off or otherwise reduce debt and for general corporate purposes.