ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210472
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RJR NABISCO PLANS BIG STOCK OFFERING

RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., the consumer-products giant that emerged from history's largest leveraged buyout, said Wednesday that it planned to sell 75 million shares, increasing the publicly held stake to as much as 22.8 percent, from 17.1 percent.

The company also said it planned to sell $750 million in a new issue of senior debt for RJR Nabisco Capital Corp., a unit that issues debt.

The debt and equity sales were the latest moves to refinance borrowings so large that some analysts had been concerned that not even the rich cash flow from RJR's cigarettes and cookies could handle it.

The yield of the senior debt has not been determined but could be 11 percent or less. The new debt and equity will probably be used to buy back $1.5 billion in RJR's 17 percent debt, its most expensive paper, analysts say.

Analysts estimate that the stock sale will save about $100 million in annual interest payments and the debt sale about $20 million.

The planned sale of stock, when it is completed, will give public holders a total of 249.9 million shares.

-The New York Times 


 by CNB