Encana offering expected to raise more than $1B, add 107M new shares

Calgary-based Encana Corp. says it will issue up to 107-million new common shares in a public offering designed to allow it to put more rigs to work in a promising Texas oilfield.

Theproducer says the offering, underwritten by Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc. and J.P. Morgan, was expected to be priced after marketing.

At Monday's closing price of $13.03, it would raise just under $1.4 billion and increase Encana's share total by nearly 13 per cent.

Encana says it will put about half of the funds on its 2017 capital budget.

The producer says it will double the number of wells it has in the Permian oilfield of Texas by the end of the year by increasing the number of drilling rigs it employs there.

The remaining proceeds from the share sale are to be used to repay debt.

The underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to 16 million more shares, Encana says.

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