The company announced a pro-rata non-renounceable rights issue of 16,910,600 shares at $A1.75 per share on a 1:5 basis to its existing shareholders on November 29 2005, in an attempt to raise a further $A29,593,550 in support of the Denco acquisition.

The offer closed recently with more than 12 million of the issued shares (worth $A21.9 million) taken up by existing investors.

BEI’s shareholders include Nominees, Westpac Custodian Nominees, Citicorp Nominees and AMP Life Limited.

Shares from the issue commenced quotation on the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday (ASX:BEI), closing at $A1.80 with 1,347,779 shares traded during the day.

According to an ASX release, the three largest investors in BEI are three companies wholly owned by BEI’s parent company, Babcock & Brown: Giramax Pty Ltd; B&B Transactions Pty Ltd; and B&B Financial Services Pty Ltd.

BEI also welcomed new institutional investors Tricom Equities and Wilson HTM Corporate Finance, saying the remaining shares from the issue would be taken up by other institutions and “sophisticated investors” who participated in December’s first and second tranche placements.

Unallocated shares will be allotted on January 24, with ASX quotation expected to begin on January 27, 2006.