Greenbay raises R4bn

Shares hugely oversubscribed in Mauritius and the JSE

GREENBAY Properties, which has a primary listing on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange AltX, has raised about R4 billion through a significantly oversubscribed accelerated book-build, after initially seeking to raise R2bn.

The company announced a planned equity raise of R2bn before 8am on Tuesday through the issue of new ordinary shares in the company, subject to the pricing being acceptable.

However, Greenbay subsequently announced that it had increased the amount of equity to be raised on the JSE to R4bn at R1.97 a share and on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius at €0.126 (R1.97) a share, because of the substantial demand for its shares in response to its earlier equity raising announcement.

The accelerated book-build process closed at 11.30am South African time on Tuesday, resulting in the raising of R4bn through the placement of 2.03 billion new shares on its South African and Mauritian registers at the announced prices.

Greenbay, which invests globally in direct property and in listed real estate and infrastructure companies, including quality real estate investment trusts (Reits) such as Simon Property Group and General Growth, said the proceeds from the equity raise would be invested in line with its investment policy.

However, Greenbay confirmed it was currently evaluating further significant direct retail opportunities in Europe.

At end-March this year, Greenbay owned property assets valued at £488.6 million (R8.43bn), with the majority of these assets situated in Europe, the UK and US, with some exposure in Australia, Canada and Singapore. The accelerated book-build follows another equity raise in May this year.

This resulted in Greenbay raising about R1.15bn through an accelerated book-build and the placement of 620 million new shares at R1.86 a share on the South African register of the company in a significantly oversubscribed accelerated book-build.

Shares in Greenbay stayed flat on Tuesday to close at R2.05.