WAM Leaders Limited (ASX: WLE) has announced the successful completion of an upscaled $225 million placement, following significant demand from professional and sophisticated shareholders. WAM Leaders Limited is a listed investment company (LIC) managed by Wilson Asset Management, employing a strategy that blends top-down macroeconomic analysis with fundamental research and market positioning. The capital raise saw bids exceed the initial target, leading to an early closure of the bookbuild and subsequent scale back of allocations, ultimately increasing the placement size to $225 million in response to the strong investor interest.
The new fully paid ordinary shares were issued at a price of $1.325 per share, aligning with the company’s 31 July 2026 pre-tax net tangible assets per share. WAM Leaders Chairman, Geoff Wilson AO, expressed appreciation for the robust support, stating that the additional capital would enable the investment team to capitalise on emerging investment opportunities, benefiting all WAM Leaders shareholders. This placement was conducted pursuant to the company’s available capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1.
Settlement for the new shares subscribed under the placement is anticipated for Thursday, 13 August 2026, with allotment scheduled for Friday, 14 August 2026. Normal trading of these new shares is expected to commence on Monday, 17 August 2026. The newly issued shares will rank equally with existing WAM Leaders shares from their date of issue. The placement was jointly arranged by Commonwealth Securities, Morgans Financial, Ord Minnett, and Taylor Collison, with these firms also acting as joint lead managers alongside Bell Potter Securities, Canaccord Genuity (Australia), E&P Capital, and Shaw and Partners.
In a separate but related announcement, the Board of WAM Leaders also declared a fully franked final dividend of 4.8 cents per share, payable on 30 November 2026. This brings the total fully franked dividends for the 2026 financial year to 9.6 cents per share.
