GCP Student Living, the UK’s first student housing REIT, has raised £120m in an oversubscribed share offering.
The company sold 120m C-class shares at 100p per share via placement, open offer and subscription.
A C-class share is a non-voting share that carries more expense than a typical voting rights share and is usually purchased by investors who see a medium-term, rather than short-term, chance of a good return.
Of the 120m shares sold, 71.3m were sold through placement, 18.4 through subscription and a further 30.3 through open offer.
The shares will open for general trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Specialist Fund Market on 30 June this year.
The company said the £120m would nearly double GCP’s market capitalisation and would finance further projects.
Tom Ward, portfolio manager at GCP Student Living, said: “The proceeds of the issue will finance the proposed acquisition by the company of Scape Surrey, The Pad 2 (located adjacent to Royal Holloway, University of London) and Scape Shoreditch for the 2015-16 academic year, potentially increasing the number of modern studios and beds in the group’s portfolio to around 1,800.”
