There's talk that the $3.3bn Fletcher Building is assessing a move to raise capital as early as next week amid concerns a recent lift in costs will place further pressure on its balance sheet. The Australia and New Zealand-listed company sells and manufactures building materials on both sides of the Tasman and is one of New Zealand's largest civil contractors and property developers. Fletcher Building's share price is down almost 8% since the start of the week, after the company told the market it was expecting its pretax costs to rise to NZD 180 million ($168 million), including NZD 165 million to complete the New Zealand International Convention Centre after a fire, and NZD 15 for remediation quality issues at Wellington International Airport.

Potentially offsetting the costs are NZD 100 million in claims from the insurer for the fire, although the insurer has challenged this. Shares have fallen about 24% in the past six months, with shares typically falling before any raise is announced to the market. Some believe UBS and Reunion Capital are on hand to assist with any raise.

Fletcher last tapped the market in a big way in 2018, when it asked investors for NZD 750 million to repay debt following building construction projects blowouts (it has now staged an exit from vertical construction). Shares were then sold at NZD 4.80 each. The shares closed on Tuesday at NZD 4.24.

In August, DataRoom reported on concerns about the need for a Fletcher equity raise as it entered a troubled time in the housing market while having NZD 1.4bn of net debt and facing potential liabilities from pipe product defects sold in Western Australia by its Iplex unit. Fletcher Building is set to announce its half-year result on February 14.