Corio places EUR 250m bond issue in second bid

Amsterdam-listed real estate firm Corio has announced that it is to place EUR 250 mln of bonds with a single foreign institutional investor just three weeks after the firm scrapped a planned Eurobond issue due to an 'unfavourable market climate'.

Corio said on Monday that the new bond issue offers a 5.448% coupon and has a maturity of 10 years. 'The proceeds of this transaction will be used for general corporate purposes and allow Corio to extend its debt maturity profile,' the shopping centre specialist said.

The bonds will be listed on Euronext Amsterdam. Corio has been assigned a BBB+ rating by Standard & Poors and a Baa1 by Moody's, both with a stable outlook. JP Morgan acted as lead manager for this issue.

Corio completed a EUR 600 mln equity issue at end-March to help pay for its EUR 1.3 bn purchase of operating shopping centres and mall projects from Multi Corporation. Corio said at the time that it would use EUR 450 mln of the net proceeds to finance the acquisition, with the remainder being used to finance in part existing and future pipeline projects and for general corporate purposes.