If management gets to such a point where they need a CR done...

If management gets to such a point where they need a CR done that quick, they should be sacked for incompetance.

When you take out the speed element, then the need to use placements becomes hard to justify.

Really, they exist so brokers can have benefits they can throw to their clients in order to keep them. They charge less for it, but not nearly as much as they rip off existing shareholders from discounts.

Do a 1:5 rights issue with a similar discount and it will raise similar amounts, be fair to existing holders, and if companies were expected to do that, it would stop the current weight on the SP as people would be buying in to get the anticipated rights, rather than waiting for the discounted offer and/or the cheap shares that will be sold by the lucky recipients taking a quick profit.