Member Article

Ground Rents Income Fund announces £50m share placing

Cheshire-based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Ground Rents Income Fund has announced plans to raise £50m through a new share placing.

The investment trust, GRIF, said it will increase its total assets to approximately £100m by the placing of convertible preference shares.

GRIF said it also hopes to protect income returns for investors from its IPO through this decision, while shareholders will not suffer from an unfairly diluted stake in the company.

The placing is expected to complete before the end of April, subject to agreement from shareholders at a meeting in May.

Alongside this announcement, GRIF said further transactions worth £10m have been approved and are in legal due diligence.

GRIF’s investments include the £2.4m purchase of The Gateway, a mixed-used development in Leeds and a £2.4m deal to buy 541 ground rents across the North West and Midlands from Morris Homes Ltd.

James Agar, investment director of Braemar Estates, who advises the company on investments, commented: “Progress since the IPO has been ahead of our expectations and we reached the 50% invested milestone in December 2012.

“We have made a number of significant additions to the portfolio and maintain our focus on delivering investment in a timely manner.

“The acquisitions that we have completed have secured a greater than anticipated weighting to RPI-linked income.

“We have some excellent visibility for the next £50m worth of investment and anticipate further large scale portfolio assets being added to the portfolio in due course.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .