BWP REIT has raised £35 mln (€39 mln) and listed on the IPSX, the world’s first regulated exchange for single asset real estate companies.
BWP REIT is a newly formed single asset company established to acquire Bridgewater Place, an office-led mixed use property situated in central Leeds.
Completion of the acquisition has happened upon admission to the exchange.
Edmund Craston, chairman of BWP REIT, said: ‘The demand received from investors for BWP REIT signals their belief in the capital growth potential of Bridgewater Place and their support for IPSX as a platform through which to invest.’
The new owners will embark on a series of measures to fully reposition the asset and deliver an energy efficient building, which will aim to capture rent reversion and re-let vacant space. These asset management initiatives will seek to generate long term secure income from a range of tenants, in one of the UK’s largest regional cities benefitting from strong underlying fundamentals, explained Craston.
M7 has been appointed both the alternative investment fund manager and investment manager.
Richard Croft, executive chairman of M7, said the listing was a strong endorsement for both IPSX, as a nascent capital market for real estate and the proposed asset management and remediation strategy that is to be undertaken at Bridgewater Place.
‘The acquisition of this capital compromised, but fundamentally core, asset will allow investors to take part in a major repositioning that will create one of Leeds’s premier office destinations in what is, and will remain, a supply constrained market due to the current cost of construction.’
‘Furthermore, the equity raise has made allowance for BWP REIT Plc to tackle one of the core issues facing many freeholders and their leaseholders, namely cladding remediation. BWP REIT Plc will be undertaking a full remediation of the cladding without recourse to the leaseholders within the residential element of the building. This we believe will make a material social impact.’
‘The admission of BWP REIT on IPSX Wholesale creates liquidity and transparency for investors, where previously participation in such a transaction would not allow it.’
BWP REIT becomes the third company to be admitted to trading on IPSX. The platform is a FCA Regulated Investment Exchange and the world’s first such exchange dedicated to single asset real estate companies and those owning multiple assets with commonality.
