Proceeds to finance portfolio of European properties
Matrix European Real Estate Investment Trust (MEREIT) is seeking to raise up to £150m (€221.5m) through a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Part of the proceeds will be used to finance a new venture between Matrix and the Bank of Scotland to create a portfolio of European properties.
MEREIT, a European commercial real estate investment company managed by Matrix Property Fund Management (Guernsey) (MPFM), is applying to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange. At admission Matrix expects the market capitalisation of MEREIT to be around £230m.
Although the portfolio that Matrix and the Bank of Scotland are looking to create will have a Western focus, it will invest across Europe. Matrix said it will adopt a higher risk profile than MEREIT in order to achieve higher returns.
Monies raised will also be used to reduce the group’s debt and acquire a stake in Austria’s largest office building, the 38-storey, 63,400m2 IZD Tower in Vienna, which Matrix bought from Doughty Hanson last year for €247m.
MEREIT owns 27 buildings in Germany, France and Holland, which at the end of February 2007 were valued at £330m. Further acquisitions are planned in Spain, where Matrix is looking at properties with a value of around £35m.
Matrix said it expects to offer a sterling annualised gross dividend yield in excess of 6% based on the issue price paid quarterly for investors in MEREIT, with an objective of providing dividend growth and capital appreciation.
Matrix Property Fund Management LLP will advise.
