11th Dec 2006 07:01
Metro Baltic Horizons PLC11 December 2006 11 December 2006 METRO BALTIC HORIZONS PLC THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THEUNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN. Placing to raise €38.78 million Admission to trading on AIM Metro Baltic Horizons plc ("MBH" or the "Company") today announces its proposedadmission to trading on AIM and the issue of 26,200,270 ordinary shares at 100pper share through a placing by Oriel Securities Limited to institutional andother investors (the "Placing") to raise €38.78 million. The Placing is subjectto admission of the Company's shares to trading on AIM, which is expected totake place at 8.00 a.m. on 11 December 2006. The Company is a newly incorporated Isle of Man registered closed-endedinvestment company which has been formed to invest in property development andincome producing opportunities in the capital cities of the three Baltic States,namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also in the city of St Petersburg,Russia. The Baltic States have been amongst the best performing of all Europeaneconomies in recent years, experiencing an average GDP growth of over 8% overthe 4 years to 31 December 2005 compared to an EU (25) average of 1.6%. StPetersburg which has a population of 4.6m people, is located approximately 140km from the Estonian border and is regarded as a favourable investment location. The Company intends to focus principally on prime residential and officedevelopment opportunities in the Baltics and prime office developments in StPetersburg. MBH has appointed Metro Frontier Limited as Investment Manager and Metro CapitalManagement AS as Investment Adviser. The Investment Adviser is an experienced and fast growing property asset managerand developer based in Estonia with offices in Tallinn, Riga and St Petersburg.It has a team of 19 experienced professionals managing a portfolio of 19existing projects across the Baltics, which has generated a compound annualinternal rate of return in excess of 60%. The Investment Manager will source and recommend suitable property developmentopportunities to the Company and expects to target development projects whichcan demonstrate an ability to generate a minimum internal rate of return to theCompany of 25%, after costs. The Investment Adviser has already identified a number of potentialopportunities for the Company which are in line with the Company's statedinvestment objectives. For further information please contact: Metro Frontier James Kenny +353 86 397 7850Oriel Securities Tom Durie/Scott Richardson Brown +44 (0)20 7710 7712 This announcement shall not constitute or form any part of an offer orinvitation to subscribe for, underwrite or otherwise acquire, or anysolicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, securities including inthe United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in theUnited States of America. Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may betaken or distributed in the United States of America or distributed orpublished, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America. Any failureto comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of US securities law. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered underthe US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not beoffered or sold in the United States to or for the benefit of US persons unlessthey are registered under the Securities Act or pursuant to an availableexemption therefrom. No public offering of securities is being made in theUnited States. The distribution of this announcement and information containedherein may be restricted by law in other jurisdictions and therefore personsinto whose possession this announcement or information contained herein comesshould inform themselves about and observe any other restrictions. Oriel Securities, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial ServicesAuthority, is acting exclusively for the Company and no one else in connectionwith the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Companyfor providing the protections afforded to their clients nor for providing advicein relation to the Placing. Information in this announcement cannot be relied upon as a guide to futureperformance. Notes for Editors ABOUT METRO BALTIC HORIZONS PLC MBH is a newly incorporated Isle of Man registered closed-ended investmentcompany which has been established to invest in property development and incomeproducing opportunities in the capital cities of the three Baltic States, namelyEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also in the city of St Petersburg, Russia. Investment Strategy The Company intends to invest in and develop a portfolio of high qualityproperty assets spread across the capital cities of the three Baltic states(although principally Tallinn and Riga) and St Petersburg in Russia. Incontrast to certain other property investment funds investing in the region andacross emerging Europe, the Company will have a development capability ratherthan just a passive investment mandate focussed on limited existing propertystock. Co-Investment by key individuals and members of the Metro group Key individuals and members of the Metro Group will collectively subscribe for5.3% of the Ordinary Shares in the Placing. Directors The Directors of the Company, all of whom are non-executive, are as follows: Stuart McDonald (Chairman) was with NM Rothschild & Sons Limited from 1970 to1984, latterly as an executive director. Between 1984 and 1992, he was JointChief Executive of London and Edinburgh Trust plc, a listed internationalproperty investment and development company. He now acts as consultant to anumber of property companies, business start up and smaller companies. Robin James is a former CEO of Singer and Friedlander (Isle of Man) Holdings Ltdand previously spent nine years with Kleinwort Benson in the UK and SouthAfrica. Kristel Meos is Head of Private Wealth Management at Hansabank Limited. Gunnar Okk is Senior Vice President of Nordic Investment Bank and was formerlyPresident and CEO of Estonia Energy Ltd, a Director of Bank of Tallinn Ltd and aManaging Director of Statoil. Shareholders owning 3% or more of the Company's issued share capital onAdmission Garrett Kelleher 14.2%IIU Nominees 12.9%Henderson Global Investors 10.0%Carmignac Gestion 5.0%SEB Uhispanga Progressiivne Pensionifond 3.4%Nordplus Consulting 3.2% ABOUT METRO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AS Metro Capital Management AS, the Investment Adviser, is an experienced and fastgrowing property asset manager and developer based in Estonia with offices inTallinn, Riga and St Petersburg. It was formed in 2002 following the merger oftwo Estonian property asset management companies established in 1997 and 2001respectively and has a professional staff of 19 currently managing a portfolioof 19 projects across the Baltics, ranging from mature cash flow yieldingproperties to early stage development projects in prime city locations. Grossassets under management are approximately €80m of which approximately €50mrepresents owner's equity. To date the compound annual internal rate of returnin property developments managed by the Investment Adviser has been in excess of60% per annum. The Investment Adviser currently manages property investments for approximately200 private and institutional investors including insurance companies, pensionfunds, investment funds and private banking clients of various international andlocal Baltic banks. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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