European retail property specialist Corio has placed a EUR 150 mln bond issue with two foreign institutional investors. This is the latest example of a European listed real estate firm turning to the bond market as an alternative means of financing alongside bank debt and selling shares.


Amsterdam-listed Corio carried out the bond issue under the Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) system with a 2.389% coupon and a 100% issue price. The bonds will be listed on Euronext Amsterdam

The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Corio has been assigned a BBB+ rating by Standard & Poors and a Baa1 by Moody's. J.P. Morgan acted as lead manager for this issue.

European real estate companies have issued a record volume of bonds in the past couple of years. On Friday, engineering and services group Bilfinger announced announced that it had successfully placed its first corporate bond. The EUR 500 mln bond, with a term of seven years until 2019, has a coupon of 2.375 percent at an issue price of 99.892%.

Unite, the London-listed student accommodation developer-investor, reported last week that it has raised EUR 92 mln from the early closure of a retail bond issue.

In recent months, the market has seen a spate of larger EUR 500 mln bond issues by UK-listed REIT Hammerson and French REITs Société Foncière Lyonnaise and Klépierre. Foncière des Murs, another French REIT, carried out a EUR 250 mln bond issue on 19 November.

Click on the link below to read: 'Bond issuances gain momentum in core Europe'