Tritax Eurobox seeks £173m as it looks to double in size
By Jeremy Gordon 19 Feb, 2021, Citywire Investment Trust Insider
Tritax Eurobox (EBOX) has announced plans to raise for a £173m (€200m) equity raise, after a strong rally in its shares since the autumn with the European ‘big box’ market buoyant amid an e-commerce boom.
The listed property fund, the sister strategy of the UK-focused £3.2bn Tritax Big Box (BBOX), is £446m in size today and counts tenant likes Amazon in its portfolio of continental logistics assets.
EBOX is planning to issue 168 million shares at a price of 103p per share, as well as seeking approval for a placing programme of another 300m shares. Taken together, that would more than double the real estate investment trust’s size.
‘Current rates of market penetration for online sales in Continental Europe materially lag that seen in the UK and has the potential to grow exponentially in the coming years,’ said QuotedData’s property analyst Richard Williams.
Unlike some of the most recent closed-end fund raisings, the share issue is available to private investors through the intermediary offer for stockbrokers.
The new shares are priced at the end-of-September net asset value (NAV) of €1.19, converted at the current exchange rate, representing a 2.4% discount to yesterday’s closing share price. However, broker Numis Securities said the issue was being undertaken at a 2% premium when adjusting for the two dividends which have been paid since the autumn.
EBOX’s shares slipped 1.4% to 104p after the announcement on Friday.
Tritax expects to use the proceeds from the equity raise, along with existing cash and debt, to acquire a near-term pipeline of prime big box logistics assets.
This includes three properties in Germany with a value of €317m, plus three more locations valued at €99m, two in Italy and one in Germany. All the assets have been sourced off-market through relationships with developers and asset managers.
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