** Shares of AES Corp  AES.N  down 2.3% at $26.26 as
electric utility firm looks to raise capital
    ** AES only stock in S&P 500 Utilities index  .SPLRCU 
seeing red on Thurs, while index rises 1.6%
    ** Co after the bell Weds announced equity units offering
consisting of 3-yr mandatory convertible preferred stock to
raise $1 bln  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPnbZPcJsa
    ** AES plans to use net offering proceeds to develop its
renewables business, U.S. utility businesses, LNG infrastructure
    ** Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, BofA and Morgan Stanley jt
bookrunners
    ** AES has current market cap of ~$17.5 bln, per Refinitiv
data
    ** Even with move on Thurs, stock up ~12% YTD and is top
SPLRCU performer
    ** This as SPLRCU down ~5.3% so far in 2021, vying with S&P
Consumer Staples  .SPLRCS  as biggest S&P sector loser as rising
interest rates weigh on bond proxies

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper.tr.com@reuters.net
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430))