Immofinanz sells EUR 750 mln in convertible bonds

Immofinanz Immobilien has announced the EUR 750 mln sale of convertible bonds. The placement was offered solely to institutional investors and involved 49.4 million shares at a conversion price of EUR 15.18, reflecting a 32% premium over the EUR 11.5 reference share price.

In a statement, the company said placement of the convertible bond closed after just four hours as it was nearly four times oversubscribed at this point. The proceeds will be used to finance Immofinanz's further expansion, mainly in Germany. The Austrian property group indicated that it is currently in the negotiation stage in relation to a number of development projects. The bonds have a 2.75% coupon rate and matures in seven years.

Immofinanz was the first European real estate company in 2007 to place convertible bonds. The group said that 'the strong interest in the placement was remarkable and subscription orders came from virtually every country' in which the bonds were offered.

Last year Immofinanz was the most successful real estate share on the Vienna stock exchange with a 33.27% increase in share price. In the first two weeks of 2007, the share price rose another 8.7%. Founded in 1990, its property portfolio includes 2,324 entities with 8.98 million m² of lettable space valued at some EUR 11.8 bn.