Montreal: Astral Media has closed a public offering of 2.5 million class a non-voting shares at a price of $38.50, representing gross proceeds of $96.2 million.

Astral says net proceeds will be used initially to repay bank debt, after which the company may ‘incur new bank debt to finance acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.’

The offering was made through a group of underwriters comprised of Scotia Capital, CIBC World Markets, Griffiths McBurney & Partners, National Bank Financial, Newcrest Capital, RBC Dominion Securities, TD Securities, Yorkton Securities and Trilon Securities Corp.

Meanwhile, Covitec Group, Canada’s largest technical services company, controlled by Astral, reports it has received acquisition offers for 100% of the outstanding shares. Astral holds 63.3% of the company. The name of a prospective buyer is not known, but market specualtion indicates it could be an American company looking to benefit from the increase in u.s. shoots in Montreal. Covitec has 65 million outstanding shares in circulation. *

-www.astral.com