APN says 99 per cent of qualified institutional investors took up its placement this week.

The offer is part of a plan to raise capital for its acquisition of the half of the Australian Adshel business it does not already own.

Meanwhile, its divested former New Zealand publishing business NZME. has said it will consider buying the half of the Kiwi business it does not own. NZME. has an option to buy Adshel NZ - which has 150 digital screens and another 70 planned for this financial year - for A$156 million (NZ$166 million).

In Australia, APN said this morning that it had completed its fully underwritten institutional placement and the institutional component of its five-for-13 accelerated renounceable entitlement offer, claiming "strong support" from shareholders to raise about $254 million. New fully paid ordinary shares were priced in the offer at $2.45; APN shares were at $3.38 when trading was halted for the offer announcement on Tuesday.

The company says the institutional placement was "well oversubscribed" and was allocated exclusively to existing APN shareholders.

The retail component of the entitlement offer will open next Wednesday, November 2 until November 17, with shareholders in Australia, New Zealand or Ireland again able to buy five new shares for every 13 they hold.

APN shares rose dramatically in June this year from 66 cents to $4.53 following announcement of the sale of its Australian regional newspapers to News Corp and following the NZ demerger. The APN ARM sale is currently being reviewed by the ACCC; submissions close today, with a decision due on December 1.