Brussels-based real estate investment vehicle Befimmo has asked 15 banks to come up with a EUR 600 mln refinancing proposal, Belgium daily De Standaard reported. The lenders will formulate proposals involving a capital hike by issuing shares or an equity-linked product, debt refinancing and the possibility to taking a co-investor for real estate projects, the paper said.

Brussels-based real estate investment vehicle Befimmo has asked 15 banks to come up with a EUR 600 mln refinancing proposal, Belgium daily De Standaard reported. The lenders will formulate proposals involving a capital hike by issuing shares or an equity-linked product, debt refinancing and the possibility to taking a co-investor for real estate projects, the paper said.

The Belgian asset manager was already planning to raise up to EUR 200 mln when was awarded a tender to buy 62-state owned office buildings valued at EUR 576 mln at the end of December. Befimmo's managing director Beniot De Blieck told newspaper L'Echo on December 28 that the share issue was to be used to bring the company's debt-to-equity ratio down to about 50% in ordcer to facilitate further acquisitions.

The refinancing package under consideration is likely to comprise EUR 250 mln from issuing new shares and EUR 350 mln in debt restructuring, De Standaard reported.