Copenhagen, June 12 - Danish brewer Carlsberg said on Thursday it had completed a 30.5 billion crown ($6.31 billion) rights issue it launched to repay a loan used to buy part of UK rival Scottish & Newcastle.
The offer, Denmark's biggest ever, with pre-emptive rights for existing shareholders resulted in a full subscription of 76,278,403 new offered shares at 400 crowns per share, Carlsberg said in a statement.
Carlsberg and Dutch rival Heineken agreed this year to buy Scottish & Newcastle for 7.8 billion pounds ($15.25 billion), carving up Britain's biggest brewer.
"It is highly satisfying that we in a difficult market have succeeded in completing a fully subscribed rights issue," Carlsberg Chief executive Jorgen Rasmussen said.
"It is also notable that long-term investors from all over the world -- institutional as well as private -- have been keen to participate in this rights issue," he said.
The Danish group, which brews beer under its own name as well as the "Tuborg" and "Holsten" brands, announced the deeply discounted issue last month, in line with January's plans for the deal.
The Carlsberg Foundation, principal owner of the world's fifth-biggest brewer, sold its rights rather than buying new shares, cutting its stake in the brewer to about 30 percent from almost 82 percent. The foundation still has a majority of the votes by controlling Carlsberg's key voting shares.
The rights issue was fully underwritten by BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, Lehman Brothers and Nordea Bank.