Bethesda, MD -- American Capital Strategies, Ltd. (Nasdaq:ACAS), today announced that the company has closed on the sale of 605,000 shares of its common stock at $17.00 per share pursuant to the over-allotment option granted to the underwriters of its August 5, 1999, follow-on common stock offering. The total proceeds to the company from the sale of the 605,000 shares of common stock were $9.7 million. The total proceeds from the offering including the over-allotment were $89.8 million.
The offering was underwritten by BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc.; U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc.; Legg Mason Wood Walker, Incorporated; Ferris, Baker Watts, Incorporated; Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc.; Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.; and J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, Inc.
John Erickson, Chief Financial Officer stated, "We have had a great quarter so far, closing four transactions and closing on the equity offering. We continue to effectively deploy the proceeds from the equity offering by repaying borrowings under our credit facility and closing on new investments. Even though we have repaid floating rate debt with equity, we have structured our portfolio to have minimal sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Today approximately 67% of our earning assets receive fixed rate returns and 33% of our earning assets receive floating rate returns. If interest rates were to rise by 1%, our net operating income would increase less than 2% based on our current portfolio
structure. Conversely, if interest rates were to decline by 1%, our net operating income would decrease less than 2% based on our current portfolio structure."
American Capital is a buyout and specialty finance company with capital resources exceeding $370 million. American Capital invests in senior debt, subordinated debt and equity in middle market companies in need of capital for growth, acquisitions, ESOP buyouts, management buyouts, liquidity and restructurings. Companies interested in learning more about American Capital and our flexible financing should contact John Hoffmire, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at (800) 248-9340 or visit our website at www.AmericanCapitalOnline.com or our shareholder site at www.ACASOnline.com.