May target for Stenprop’s listing on London exchange
STENPROP, the property company listed on the JSE and the Bermuda Stock Exchange with a £785 million (R14.5 billion) property portfolio located in the UK, Germany and Switzerland, has targeted the second half of May as a listing date on the London Stock Exchange and its conversion to UK real estate investment trust (Reit) status.
Paul Arenson, the chief executive of Stenprop, said yesterday that a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange was the most desirable outcome but Stenprop did not currently meet the requirement for 25 percent of its issued shares to be held by the public in one or more of the European Economic Area (EEA) states, although it would have qualified in other respects.
Arenson said a listing on the Specialist Fund Segments (SFS) of the London Stock Exchange and Alternative Investment Market (AIM) was therefore seen as a strong alternative, with the aim of moving to the main market once this EEA free float requirement had been achieved.
He added that Stenprop would migrate its jurisdiction of incorporation from Bermuda to Guernsey as a consequence of the intended listing.
Arenson said Stenprop believed these strategic decisions would make the company more accessible to a broader pool of investors.
He said Stenprop did not intend to issue any shares on the listing and intended to fund the roll out of its multi-let industrial acquisition strategy by selling assets in its portfolio and using the proceeds for these acquisitions.
He confirmed that Stenprop planned to transition to a specialised, focused, multi-let industrial company over the next few years and, under current market conditions, did not expect the company to make any acquisitions outside the multilet industry sector.
Post the end of its half year to September, Stenprop concluded a number of disposals, including the £80.9m sale of the company’s Pilgrim Street, London office property, and sold one of its Swiss properties located in Cham for CHF (Swiss franc) 14.2m.
All the properties in the Swiss portfolio, which is valued at CHF 143.1m, are being marketed for sale.
Impetus
Stenprop’s multi-let industrial property strategy gained impetus in June this year when it acquired the industrials. co.uk portfolio for £127m and C2 Capital management team, which in a single transaction provided the company with a portfolio of 25 estates with more than 400 tenants and an experienced management team.
Arenson said it was their conviction that investing significantly in UK multi-let industrial assets was the best way to deliver sustainable growth to shareholders.
Yesterday Stenprop reported a 2.6 percent year-onyear increase in interim dividends a share to 4.0p for the six months to September, which was in line with the company’s full year guidance of 8.0p.
The company generated net rental income of £15.96m in the reporting period while adjusted European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) earnings a share, the measure used by the company to gauge its earnings performance, increased to 4.87p from 4.35p.
Shares in Stenprop increased 1.91 percent on the JSE yesterday to close at R20.55.