Student housing group Empiric Student Property has launched a £50m institutional share placing to raise funds for its UK development pipeline.
It plans to issue 300m new shares at 105.75 pence per share via a share issuance programme that is valid until 29 October 2015.
The net proceeds raised from the current placing will be put towards Empric’s 2,300-bedroom UK pipeline, which comprises operating properties and properties under development.
Of these, 15 are fully let standing assets, two are forward-committed assets with rental guarantees in place for 2015-16 and four are forward-funded or development assets.
The company issued 147.9m shares in March 2015 and committed the net equity proceeds towards 21 acquisitions totalling 1,793 bedrooms.
Empiric’s total portfolio comprises 3,503 bedrooms across 40 assets in 20 cities, 31 of which are standing or forward-committed assets and nine are forward-funded or development assets.
It has also exchanged contracts to acquire a further development asset comprising 131 beds, conditional on receiving planning consent.
The company has also announced a final interim dividend of 1p per ordinary share, from the quarter ended 30 June 2015.
It has confirmed it is targeting an annual dividend of at least 6p per ordinary share for the financial year commencing 1 July 2015.
