KBC Peel Hunt provides £247m funding to L&S

Investment bank KBC Peel Hunt has raised £247 mln for London & Stamford Property, a new property investment company that is listing on AIM this week. The bank said the listing will be one of the largest real estate flotations on London's equity markets so far this year, despite the challenging conditions in the global real estate market. KBCPH has raised a total £578 mln for the property sector so far this year.

KBCPH is acting as broker and nominated adviser to London & Stamford, which will specialise in investing in the commercial property sector. 'We are extremely pleased to have raised £247 mln for this new commercial property investment company, especially in these tough property market conditions. We set out to raise £200 mln and ended up scaling the issue back to £247 mln,' said Steven Fine, managing director of KBC Peel Hunt.

The investment bank has been involved in the following property company finance raisings in 2007: Dawnay Day Sirius' IPO on AIM raising £185 mln; Hansteen's £70m placing and Wichford's £75m placing.