Baltic Horizon Fund, a fund manager by asset manager Northern Horizon Capital, has raised nearly €30 mln of equity in the second Initial Public Offering (IPO) by a property company in the Baltics since 2010.
The volume of the equity raised came in the lower end of the €30 to €50 mln of capital that the fund was hoping to attract via the listing on the Tallinn stock exchange. The vehicle will now merge with Northern Horizon Capital's Baltic Opportunity Fund (BOF) lifting its total equity base to over €50 mln.
Commenting on the listing, Martin Malhotra, project manager at Catella said that the strong market reactions following Brexit had a negative impact on the listing as some investors in the short term experienced volatility in their existing portfolios. 'For many investors, however, interest in centrally located commercial properties in the capitals of the Baltic countries increased,' he added.
Over 200 new investors subscribed the units, which were offered publicly in Sweden and privately in other jurisdictions.
Baltic Horizon is the first listed REIT in the Baltics, according to Algis Vaitiekunas, management board member of Baltic Horizon. 'We are proud to contribute in developing the Baltic capital markets by introducing a product which is appealing to both retail and institutional investors. We intend to grow the Fund through subsequent capital raising rounds once the currently raised proceeds are allocated, with a target of growing the Fund to the size of €1 bn over the next few years.'
'BOF fund which we established in 2010 has shown a solid return since its inception both dividend and value growth wise. With this transaction BOF portfolio enters into new life, being transformed into an evergreen public REIT available to everyone,' added Tarmo Karotam, fund manager of Baltic Horizon.
Catella and Swedbank acted as co-lead managers of the offering. KPMG Baltics acted as the auditor of Baltic Horizon Fund and law firm Sorainen supported Northern Horizon Capital.
