L1 Capital closes $397M raise for global long-short fund at maximum capacity
What's the deal? L1 CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s L1 Global Long Short Fund (ASX: GLS) has completed a US$365.8M (≈$397 million) equity raising at maximum capacity, with demand from retail and wholesale investors pushing the offer to its upper limit. The non-underwritten entitlement offer launched on October 6 at US$1.14 per share. Across all components, the fund will issue 321,248,063 new shares.
How it came together: The retail entitlement offer ran from October 13 to 23 and raised about US$114.7M. Shares not taken up were offered to wholesale investors through a shortfall facility that drew bids exceeding available stock, raising a further US$132.3M. Allocations were scaled back as the board prioritised existing shareholders.
Why now? Given the strength of demand, the fund added an institutional placement using residual capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1, raising roughly US$53.5M. Combined with the institutional component announced at launch, the final result exceeded the initial US$312.3M target by more than US$51.8M.
What's the endgame? Proceeds will be deployed under L1's Global Long Short Strategy, which the fund adopted after shareholders approved a new manager in 2025. The strategy reported US$1.16B in assets at June 2026 and returns of 52.2% a year net since inception, against 18.9% for MSCI World. L1 Capital, the investment manager, will bear all costs of the raising.
What could go wrong? The strategy permits meaningful leverage, with maximum exposure of 150% net and 350% gross of net asset value — a setup L1 characterises as offering potentially higher but more volatile returns. The pace of deploying the expanded capital base, and whether it affects performance, remain open questions.
New shares are expected to be allotted on October 30 and begin normal trading on the ASX on November 2.
The signal: Raising at NTA price rather than a discount let L1 avoid the dilution that typically accompanies discounted placements. That the shortfall was scaled back suggests the manager could have raised more had capacity permitted — a sign of shareholder appetite for the global long-short approach after its strong run.
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