News: ALX UPDATE 1-Australia's Atlas Arteria to raise $2.09 bln to fund Chicago Skyway stake buy

(Updates with background, details of equity raising)

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Australian toll road operator Atlas Arteria Group Ltd (ALX) said on Wednesday it would raise about A$3.10 billion ($2.09 billion) to fund a majority stake acquisition in Chicago Skyway.

The company, however, did not comment on its near-20% shareholder IFM Investors opposing the 66.67% stake acquisition in Chicago Skyway for an equity value of $2.01 billion.

Fund manager IFM Investors said in a letter on Monday that it would consider all legal options available, including seeking an "accelerated board transition", if Atlas progressed with the acquisition. (https://bit.ly/3BDbtyr)

Atlas, a former unit of Macquarie Group (MQG) , will issue about 491.8 million new shares at A$6.30 apiece - a 19.3% discount to the stock's last close on Sept. 12. The stock has been on a trading halt since Tuesday pending announcements over the acquisition and equity raising.

The Melbourne-based company said it expected to receive at least $230 million in capital releases from Skyway over the next two years, or about 23 Australian cents per share (cps), which it says will be distributed gradually.

It also forecast a distribution of 20 Australian cps for the second half of fiscal 2022 and 40 Australian cps for fiscal 2023.

IFM Investors considers the acquisition would be highly dilutive to Atlas distributions, potentially up to 20%, it said in the letter.

($1 = 1.4854 Australian dollars) (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))