Ferro Prices Share Offering At 6 Percent Discount

CLEVELAND (AP) — Ferro Corp. said on Tuesday that it set a price of $5.60 per share for an offering of about 35.8 million shares, an increase in the size of the offer.

The offering price represents a 6 percent discount to Ferro's closing price of $5.96 in Monday's trading session.

Ferro said it expects to receive $186.9 million in proceeds before expenses. The company reiterated plans to use $50 million of those proceeds to pay costs related to restructuring and strategic initiatives. The transaction is expected to close Friday.

The maker of specialty coatings and chemicals has been cutting jobs and closing plants to help offset a sharp drop in sales to cyclical markets including construction, automobiles and appliances that accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2008. Last month, the company said that it expects end-market demand around the world to continue stabilizing; however, it held off on issuing specific sales and earnings guidance.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Ferro said sales fell 25 percent, to $442.1 million. It said net income from continuing operations of $2.8 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with $3.9 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier.

Last week, Ferro said it planned to sell 29.5 million shares and granted underwriters an option to buy up to an additional 4.4 million shares to cover any overallotment. It has about 44.9 million shares outstanding.