** Shares of electric and gas utility PPL Corp PPL.N down 1.4% premarket to $36.90 as it looks to repay debt via capital raise
** Allentown, Pennsylvania-based firm announces offering of 20 mln units at $50 for $1 bln
** The 3-yr mandatory convertible units comprise a contract to purchase PPL stock and two 1/40 undivided beneficial ownership interests in its remarketable senior notes
** Co intends to use net offering proceeds to repay short-term debt and for other general corp purposes
** JP Morgan, BofA, Morgan Stanley and RBC joint bookrunners
** PPL has ~751.4 mln shares outstanding as of Jan 30, giving firm about $28 bln market cap
** On Fri, co forecasted 2026 profit below consensus, but hiked its four-year capital spending plan by 15% to help meet surging power demand from data centers
** Through Fri close, PPL shares up 7% YTD compared to 8% gain in S&P 500 Utilities index .SPLRCU
** Avg rating of 16 analysts is "buy"; median PT $41, per LSEG data
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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