Cromwell Property's Cromwell European REIT (Cereit) has announced plans to acquire 23 properties across Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland for around €384.4 mln, and said it was seeking to raise €224.1 mln in a rights issue to partially fund the deals.
Singapore-listed Cereit announced the proposed acquisitions on the SGX-ST, describing the assets as 16 office properties in the Netherlands, Finland and Poland worth €312.5 mln, plus seven office, logistics and retail assets in Italy and France that would cost €71.9 mln.
The proposed acquisitions and rights issue are subject to approval of unitholders of Cereit at an upcoming extraordinary general meeting slated for 15 November. Cromwell said that the remainder of the deal would be funded by debt.
Cromwell currently holds interests equivalent to 35.3% in Cereit, and said it would subscribe in full for its pro-rata entitlement under the rights issue if the fund raising is approved by Cereit unitholders.
'The proposed transaction will increase Cereit’s total portfolio value from approximately €1.4 bn to €1.8 bn, enhancing the size, scale and diversification of the portfolio,' said Cromwell CEO Paul Weightman.
The REIT said that the asset would provide it with access to the growing Finnish and Polish office markets, while strengthening its exposure to Dutch and Italian offices as well as the French logistics market.
