Romania's One United places 234 mln shares to institutional investors

The purpose of the transaction was to create a liquidity event and to improve the shareholder base by bringing in new institutional investors, the real estate developer said in a press release on Friday.

"This transaction is not an exit, rather, it is a strategic initiative aimed at refining our shareholding structure and bolstering our governance through an increased institutional presence within the company. We pledge that the majority of the capital garnered from this transaction will be strategically reinvested into the company through the next share capital increase," the selling shareholders said jointly in the statement.

Following the transaction, One United co-founders Victor Capitanu and Andrei Diaconescu jointly hold 50.03% of the company's share capital.

The offering was announced earlier on Friday, when One United Properties said that the four shareholders would launch a private placement offering of up to 360,000,000 shares, representing a stake of up to roughly 9.5% in the company.

SSIF Swiss Capital S.A. was the global coordinator and bookrunner for the offering.

Last month, One United requested its shareholders to temporarily give up pre-emption rights during their general meeting scheduled for April 25. A potential approval of this request will enable One United Properties to increase its capital by up to 20% over the next three years. The company also proposed to its shareholders to endorse a potential bond issuance worth up to 300 million euro ($319.7 million) that it will pursue if rates ease in the future.

Established in 2009, One United Properties is a developer of residential, commercial and office real estate. In 2023, the company booked a net profit of almost 443.2 million lei ($95 million/89.1 million euro), down by an annual 12%.

Blue-chip One United's shares traded 0.32% lower at 0.933 lei as at 0955 CET on Monday on the Bucharest bourse.

(1 euro=4.9714 lei)