Capital & Regional has raised £25m through an open offer to part-fund the acquisition of The Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh.
Earlier this month, the REIT announced details of its proposed acquisition of the 415,000 sq ft shopping centre for £40m, with the deal financed by existing funds, a new debt facility of £16m and the funds received from the open offer.
Capital & Regional said it received valid acceptances from qualifying shareholders under their open offer entitlements in respect of 34,697,047 open offer shares, with Growthpoint – the company’s largest shareholder – subscribing for the remaining 11,581,634 open offer shares, which when taken in aggregate with its qualifying shareholder acceptance takes its total participation in the open offer to 40,446,652 open offer shares – approximately 87.40% cent of the open offer shares available.
Following admission of the open offer shares, Growthpoint’s holding in the company will be 67.64%.
Speaking earlier this month, Lawrence Hutchings, chief executive officer of Capital & Regional, said: “This acquisition allows us to capitalise on an opportunity to add an established dual supermarket anchored community centre in Scotland’s capital city to our portfolio, in a transaction that will be part-funded by a £25m equity raise available to all existing shareholders and fully underwritten by our majority shareholder, Growthpoint.
“The centre will be accretive to income from day one, with the agreed price representing a significant discount to the replacement cost and providing us with a highly attractive entry point from which we can create value. In addition, we have arranged terms with Morgan Stanley to staple debt to the acquisition at a 40% LTV capped at a cost of 6.5% fixed for five years.
“We have also identified a number of asset management opportunities to create value including refining the tenant mix, a renewed focus on leasing to improve occupancy and income, whilst enhancing the centre’s appeal to the growing and affluent catchment in south western Edinburgh.”
