Magna offering put at $133M

Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment will raise $133 million from an offering of 20 million additional shares in the company, nearly $40 million less than the company expected, according to the underwriter of the offering.

The underwriter, Bear Stearns, priced the new Magna shares at $6.65 on Thursday night. Magna had said in filings with regulators that it expected the offering to raise $171.6 million, which would have translated to a per-share price of $8.58 each.

The offering will nearly double the amount of Class A shares available in the company, from 25 million to 45 million.

Magna shares closed at $7.42, up 63 cents, on Friday on extremely heavy trading. Volume was 10.8 million shares, compared with a typical volume of 250,000 shares. One early-morning trade was for 1.3 million shares.

Magna has said that it will use the money generated from the offering to pay back long-term debt and make more acquisitions. The company has $63 million in outstanding loans and recently reached an agreement to purchase Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, for $99 million.

Magna's shares have traded as high as $10.25 in the past year, and as low as $3.63. The company owns 10 racetracks, including Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, and Golden Gate Fields.