Pacific Brands, the maker of iconic brands such as Berlei, Bonds and King Gee is seeking $324m from rights offer. It was confirmed by the company that while the institutional $154 million part of the deal is fully underwritten, the retail $102 million part is pending.

It has been learnt that the proceeds would be utilized to decrease debt and for working capital as the apparel company restructures its operations by reducing the number of its brands, realigning costs and exiting the majority of clothing manufacturing sites.

Recently, Pacific Brands had refinanced its debt with its next maturity due in March 2012 and a major restructuring of the business involving the elimination of 1850 jobs earlier this year was also announced by the company.

The company aims to extract annual cost savings of more than $150 million by 2011 specified that the restructuring will cost around $110 million for the year ending June 30..

(Via TopNews New Zealand. Contributed by Ketan Mukherjee)