EUROPE – The Goodman Group has raised €550m in new equity from new and existing investors for its European Logistics Fund (GELF), and decided to sell part of its own stake in the fund due to demand.
Roughly 95% of the capital was raised through a rights issue with the remainder secured from new investors.
Goodman said the fund had completed an equity raising process that saw total demand of more than €900m.
In order to meet the excess demand, the Goodman Group said it would now sell down part of its holding in GELF, which would result in the group eventually owning approximately 20% of the fund.
At the end of December 2012, the group held 28.4% of the fund’s units.
Emmanuel Van der Stichele, GELF’s fund director, said: “We intend to use the proceeds to further strengthen our market position and to continue to diversify our portfolio, with a focus on prime assets in key European logistics locations.”
Goodman Group chief executive Greg Goodman said the investor demand was a clear endorsement of GELF’s offering and corporate governance model.
“The overwhelming demand for the equity raise reflects the fund’s high quality portfolio and the attractiveness of the European logistics property market to large institutional investors,” he said.
In March, the fund issued €500m of bonds for the first time. Combined with the recent fundraising, it will provide GELF with more than €800m to invest, the Goodman said.
The fund has 95 assets in 11 European countries valued at approximately €1.9bn.
