19th May 2015 08:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Unite Group PLC Tuesday said the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) received GBP306 million in an equity raising, which will be used to fund acquisitions and reduce leverage.
The new units will be priced at the prevailing quarterly net asset value at the time when capital is drawn, plus a premium of approximately 1.5%, Unite said.
Unite added that Allianz Real Estate invested GBP100 million in the raising, while a further GBP14 million was raised from other new institutional investors. Existing unit holders invested GBP192 million, including Unite's own investment of GBP60 million.
USAF is continuing to appraise a number of acquisition opportunities and expects to deploy the capital earmarked for investment by the end of the year, and will initially use the funds to reduce leverage, Unite said.
"We are delighted to have successfully raised over GBP300 million of new capital into USAF providing the fund with capacity for acquisitions and the ability to further delever the balance sheet in line with our plans," Chief Financial Officer Joe Lister said.
"The strength of demand for USAF units together with the introduction of an investor of Allianz's global standing is a real endorsement of USAF's position as the leading fund in the sector, its historic performance and future strategy," Lister added.
Shares in Unite were trading up 1.4% at 623.00 pence early Tuesday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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