Sandisk falls as Western Digital to offload 5.8m shares to cut debt

(Sharecast News) - Flash memory maker Sandisk slumped on Wednesday after it said Western Digital was planning to raise about $3.2bn by selling some of its stake in a secondary public offering. Western Digital will offer just over 5.8m shares at $545 each. Sandisk said Western is expected to exchange the shares for certain indebtedness held by affiliates of J.P. Morgan Securities and BofA Securities.

Following completion of the debt-for-equity exchange, Western Digital will own just under 1.7m shares, which it intends to dispose of in one or more subsequent exchanges for outstanding shares of WDC common stock and/or through pro rata distributions to shareholders.

J.P. Morgan and BofA are acting as the joint lead book-runners for the offering, which is due to close on 19 February.

At 0950 GMT, the shares were down 2.1% in pre-market trade at $578.30.