Qantas enters trading halt to raise equity

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Qantas Airways Ltd on Thursday entered a trading halt pending the release of an announcement about a capital raising including an institutional share placement and share purchase plan.

The airline’s board was considering a range of options to strengthen its balance sheet including a A$1 billion-plus ($686.10 million) equity raising, The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported on Wednesday evening, without citing the source of the information.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Leslie Adler)