Secondary Offering Weighs on Itron (ITRI)

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced after yesterday’s close that it will sell 3.4 million shares of common stock in an at the market public secondary offering.

Yesterday’s closing price was $94.47 per share, so gross proceeds will be in the vicinity of $321 million.  Itron said it plans to use $250 million of the proceeds to repay a portion of  outstanding non-convertible debt and the rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

While this will effectively be a spot secondary in result, this is under an existing shelf filing.  The funds are expected to close on or about May 12, 2008, so shares should be sold today.  Itron produces meters that read electricity, gas, water, and heat usage for utilities; and various other associated metering products for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution customers.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is the sole underwriter in this offering.

Itron’s market cap was $2.9 Billion as of yesterday and as of December 31, 2008, the company had $1.578 Billion in long-term debt and total liabilities were carried as $2.29 Billion.

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So far, shares are down a little more than 2% in pre-market trading at $92.47.

Jon C. Ogg
May 7, 2008