Accenture to Have Charge, Share Offering

Accenture Ltd. said it will take a $212-million quarterly charge to ditch soured investments, and it plans a public offering of 100 million shares.

Although the Bermuda-based company, which was spun off from accounting firm Andersen, also said it expects operating results near the high end of Wall Street estimates, investors shrugged off the forecast and sent the stock down as much as 15%.

Accenture said current and former partners will sell 89.8million of the 100 million shares in the planned stock offering. The company said the offering is designed to create a more liquid, orderly market for its stock.

Accenture, which took a $90-million charge in the fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30 to write down losses on its venture capital and investment portfolio, said it will sell substantially all of its minority-owned investments, including some stakes in companies with which it worked.

Shares of Accenture were down $3.42, or 11.6%, at $26 in NYSE trading.