In QuotedData’s morning briefing 13 November 2023:
- Marwyn Value Investors (MVI) has announced that it has made a £7.8m investment into Zegona Communications, participating in a total equity placing of £262m. This equity raise was made as part of Zegona’s acquisition of Vodafone Holdings Europe, S.L.U. (“Vodafone Spain”) for €5.0bn, funded through a combination of new debt, Vodafone financing and this equity placing. Zegona was founded by the current management team of Eamonn O’Hare and Robert Samuelson, alongside Marwyn, in 2015 with a ‘Buy-Fix-Sell’ strategy within European TMT.
- RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) has announced that CARGO Therapeutics, one of its invested companies, has outlined details of its IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, a US index. GARGO’s model is to deliver advance next generation, potentially curative cell therapies for cancer patients. CARGO’s IPO raised $281.3m by offering 18,750,000 shares at $15.00 per share, marking one of the largest biotech IPOs of the year. CARGO was a 1.2% position in RTW as of 31st October 2023.
- HICL Infrastructure (HICL) has sold the entirety of its interest in the University of Sheffield Accommodation Project for a consideration of c. £18m. The sale price represents a small premium to its last audited valuation at 31 March 2023. The proceeds of this transaction will be used to pay down HICL’s revolving credit facility, with drawings expected to be c.£115m after repayments. HICL’s management team believes that this transaction is further evidence of the value of HICL’s portfolio and the disconnect between public and private market valuations for high-quality infrastructure assets.
- Triple Point Social Housing REIT (SOHO) has said that it will continue to consider disposals to fund share buybacks as a way of addressing its persistent discount to NAV. The company added, however, given tough market conditions that sales are unlikely to be pursued before the end of this year. The group’s NAV fell 2.2% to 108.88p in the three months to 30 September 2023, due to a 16 basis points (0.16%) outward movement in the portfolio’s net initial yield to 5.84% and adjustments attributable to properties leased to My Space and Parasol Homes (which have fallen into problems and are in rent arrears). The company said that a creditor’s agreement is now in place with Parasol and it is now paying all monthly rent under the agreement. The company said that it was working on a creditor’s agreement in relation to My Space that is expected to be in place in the first quarter of 2024. It is also working to move certain properties to different housing associations.
- British Land (BLND) posted a 3.9% drop in EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) to 565p for the six months to 30 September 2023. Its portfolio fell in value by 2.5% to £8.704bn as yields moved out slightly across its portfolio. Underlying earnings per share was up 3.4% to 15.2p, while dividends were up 4.8% to 12.16p.
- LXI REIT (LXI) has extended the term of its existing £60m loan facility with HSBC from December 2024 to December 2026. This was the earliest maturing debt in the group and extends its weighted average term from 5.1 years to 5.2 years. The HSBC facility maintains the existing margin of 2.05% per annum above SONIA and benefits from an existing interest rate cap until December 2024 at 2.5%. The company said that it expects to hedge the cost of the facility during the additional term to expiry in due course.
- Custodian Property Income REIT (CREI) has sold a children’s day nursery in Chesham for £0.55m, in line with the 30 September 2023 valuation.
- Harworth Group (HWG) has secured planning approval from Leeds City Council for the development of 800,000 sq. ft of industrial and logistics space (across five units) at its Skelton Grange site in Leeds.