Fri Feb 27, 2015 5:23am EST
* To offer 1.2 bln new shares to existing shareholders
* Raise ceiling of bond issue to 40 bln baht
* Bumble Bee deal expected to close by 2015 (Adds details, background, shares)
By Khettiya Jittapong
BANGKOK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Thai Union Frozen Products Pcl (TUF) said on Friday it aims to raise $400 million by offering new shares to help finance acquisitions, including the purchase of U.S. competitor Bumble Bee Seafoods.
Thai Union, the world's largest producer of canned tuna, plans to move quickly to cut debt after making its largest-ever acquisition with the $1.5 billion move for Bumble Bee in December.
The capital raising, though widely expected by analysts, sent Thai Union shares down as much as 4 percent to a four-week low. The stock closed down 3.2 percent on Friday, while the broader Thai index was down 0.4 percent.
The company plans to offer up to 1.2 billion new shares through a rights issue, it said in a statement on Friday.
It would also seek shareholder permission to raise the ceiling of a new bond issue to 40 billion baht ($1.24 billion) from 25 billion baht, it said in a statement.
Thai Union, which makes Chicken of the Sea, the third-largest tuna brand in the United States, plans to double its revenue through overseas asset purchases.
The acquisition is awaiting clearance by U.S. antitrust authorities. Thai Union expects to complete the deal by the end of 2015, it said on Friday.
Bumble Bee is the largest canned tuna and sardine producer in North America, with brands including Brunswick and Sweet Sue. It is owned by pan-Atlantic private equity firm Lion Capital, which bought the seafood maker from another private equity firm for $980 million in 2010.
The acquisition would be Thai Union's third in an aggressive international expansion drive in 2014. It also bought Norwegian canned fish producer King Oscar and French smoked-salmon supplier MerAlliance.
The company has said it was financing the Bumble Bee purchase with a one-year bridge loan from two local banks.
Thai Union Chief Executive Thiraphong Chansiri told Reuters last month the company's debt-to-equity ratio would rise to 1.7 times after the company took the bridge loan.
At the end of 2014, TUF's net debt-to-equity ratio was at 0.85 times. The company wants to bring down the ratio to a factor of 0.8 to 1.2 times within a year of completing the deal.
Earlier, the company announced a weaker-than-expected 14 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit and reiterated its $5 billion sales target for 2015. ($1 = 32.40 Baht) (Editing by Simon Webb and Prateek Chatterjee)
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UPDATE 1-Thai Union Frozen to raise $400 mln in share issue for Bumble Bee buy
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