By Laura McGuire
Great Portland Estates (GPE) has raised gross proceeds of £350m to capitalise on its pipeline of new opportunities in central London.
Back in May, the London landlord launched a fully underwritten three-for-five rights issue to raise gross proceeds of approximately £350m – £336m net of expenses – through the issue of 152m new Shares at a price of 230 pence each.
This morning, GPE confirmed it had received acceptances from existing shareholders in respect of 96.8 per cent of the new shares.
The deal’s underwriters will place the remainder of the issue. The final figures will be published at a later date.
“The combination of the Capital’s disrupted investment market and the increasingly evident supply drought of high quality spaces in our core market of the West End, means we are optimistic about the returns we can generate from both our £1.4bn pipeline of potential acquisitions and across our existing HQ and Flex offerings.”
He added: “I want to reiterate our thanks to all our shareholders and we look forward to providing an update on our progress in due course.”
The fundraising comes as demand for the group’s office spaces across London has continued to return to pre-pandemic levels.
After the pandemic, tenants have become increasingly picky and tend to favour best-in-class buildings with less space due to work-from-home practices.
GPE intends to use £168m of the proceeds from the Rights Issue to commit to capex for its Soho Square Estate and a new development, The Courtyard.
This will take total capex on committed GPE schemes from £498m to £666m.
The group acquired the Courtyard via a property swap with the City of London Corporation. GPE swapped its interest in 95/96 New Bond Street while simultaneously acquiring the long leasehold interest at The Courtyard.
