@andy777,
The thing you read about this being like investing during the GFC with the added stress of the prospect of death (however slim) made me laugh.
To your question about how companies might raise capital this time around: its a good question and one that I hadn't considered.
During the GFC most of the capital raisings comprised placements (especially the banks, who had to re-capitalise quickly) plus modest share purchase plans (the amounts offered during these SPPs were modest, $10k to $15k per shareholder, along with provisions for scale-backs.
My sense was that retail investors lost out, and were diluted, especially if those shareholders had investments in companies that were in several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I have noticed that, in more recent times, the "Placement-Plus-SPP" equity raisings have involved a greater proportion allocated to the SPP component.
Not just that, but there is increasingly allowance made for over-subscription options
So, far more equitable for small shareholders, I think.
My sense is that more and more companies are choosing the "Placement-Plus-SPP-With-Over-subscription-Option" combo, as opposed to entitlement offers, because placements provide instant access to capital, and SPP's are cheaper to conduct than entitlement offers.
(And almost all entitlement offers these days are non-renounce-able; fully-renounce-able entitlement offers are somewhat of an extinct species, I sense. Probably rightly so, as they are not very efficient.)
(20min delay)