By TIM HUNTER - Sunday Star Times

A proposed capital raising for George Kerr's Equity Partners Infrastructure Company could prove a hard sell after it released results last week showing shareholders' funds have shrunk 8% to $75.3 million in the year to March.

The fund, known as Epic, was set up two years ago to invest in infrastructure assets and its core holding so far is a 1.2% stake in British utility Thames Water. It now wants to raise between $28 million and $60m in a rights issue and public share offer to finance its purchase of a stake in British motorway service station company Moto.

As the share offer details were being finalised last week, Epic published an annual report containing numbers that cast doubt on its ability to maintain its hitherto high dividends the main attraction for investors.

Over the past two years Epic has paid out $12.6m in dividends to its 2000 mainly Kiwi shareholders, a sum well in excess of its cash income of $11.2m garnered from Thames Water.

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Posted by rjorr at August 16, 2009 3:13 PM