Johannesburg-listed EPP has successfully completed an equity raise of ZAR 1.45 bn (€90 mln), with which the Polish retail specialist plans to fund tranche 2 of its M1 portfolio transaction.
The deal is expected to add an additional 184,000 m2 of retail area to EPP’s portfolio.
'We’re pleased with the market’s faith in our growth plans. This equity raise provides us with more liquidity ahead of the next step in our M1 transaction, but more importantly it will give us the ability to continue to deliver strong returns to all of our stakeholders,' said EPP CEO, Hadley Dean.
The equity raise was offered to investors through an accelerated bookbuild process on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Luxembourg's LuxSE, and adds a new significant new equity investor with a stake of €75 mln, the firm said.
EPP was the top performing stock in the listed property sector on the JSE last year and the company announced its third year of record returns last month. It is currently the largest owner of retail real estate in Poland, with a total portfolio of 19 retail properties, six office buildings and two development sites in Warsaw, representing some 835,000 m2.
'Our strategy to invest throughout Poland’s wealthiest cities, is continuing to be fruitful, especially in the light of Poland’s expanded social programmes, sure to fuel consumer spending in the next year,' Dean added.
