December 8 (SeeNews) - London-listed Globalworth Real Estate Investment said on Friday it has raised 340 million euro ($400.5 million) through a non-preemptive issue of new ordinary shares to finance investment opportunities in Romania and Poland.
A total of 38,857,143 new ordinary shares at a price of 8.75 euro each have been placed, Globalworth said in a press release.
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"We are now in a position to expand our portfolio in Poland and Romania through the attractive investment opportunities we have identified, enabling us to extend our mission of being the partner of choice for the wide variety of high-quality tenants in the region," deputy CEO and chief investment officer Dimitris Raptis said.
The equity increase will also assist the company in managing its gearing strategy to a target loan-to-value ratio of 35%.
The placing attracted a wide range of new and existing institutional investors which will increase the company's free float and is expected to broaden the liquidity of its shares ahead of the planned move to the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 2018, Globalworth said.
American global investment bank and institutional securities firm Jefferies acted as sole bookrunner on the deal, which is the second-largest equity raise by an AIM-listed real estate company since October 2009.
This was Jefferies’ 23rd equity and equity-linked transaction in the European Real Estate sector since December 2013, raising an aggregate of some $4.6 billion for corporate clients.
In August, Globalworth completed the acquisition of the third building in Green Court Bucharest Campus for 38 million euro. Following this acquisition of Building C, Globalworth became the sole owner of the Green Court Bucharest Campus developed by Swedish developer Skanska.
In July, Globalworth said it will develop Groupe Renault Romania's new headquarters building on land acquired by Elgan Offices, a company which it equally owns together with Elgan Group.
In June, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invested 50 million euro in a 650 million euro bond issued by Globalworth.
Globalworth is the largest office-property owner and developer in Romania, investing in a diversified portfolio of properties located primarily in the country, but also in the broader Southeast European region and in central and eastern Europe. Its shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market, the London Stock Exchange’s international market for growing companies.
($= 0.8489 euro)