French property company Klepierre said it has successfully completed a capital increase launched at the beginning of November to refinance the acquisition of the Scandinavian shopping centre group Steen & Strom. Klepierre has raised gross proceeds of EUR 356 mln via the issue of almost 24 million new shares. Total demand amounted to 32 million shares, reflecting a subscription rate of 139%, the company said.
French property company Klepierre said it has successfully completed a capital increase launched at the beginning of November to refinance the acquisition of the Scandinavian shopping centre group Steen & Strom. Klepierre has raised gross proceeds of EUR 356 mln via the issue of almost 24 million new shares. Total demand amounted to 32 million shares, reflecting a subscription rate of 139%, the company said.
The new shares were listed on Tuesday on Euronext Paris. After the capital increase, the share capital of Klépierre will be composed of 166 million shares and BNP Paribas will hold 52.2% of the group's equity.
Michel Clair, chairman of Klépierre's Executive Board, said: 'We would like to address a very warm thank you to all our shareholders for showing their trust in Klépierre. By approving the strategic interest of the Steen & Strøm acquisition, which triggered this rights issue, they allow Klépierre to enhance its presence in countries with a strong economic environment and growth prospects, without jeopardising its financial structure.'
Klepierre, which teamed up with Dutch pension fund ABP to buy Steen & Strom, said in October it had closed the EUR 2.7 bn acquisition. The firm invested roughly EUR 601 mln in equity by fully drawing down on available lines of financing. Klepierre said at the time it had appointed BNP Paribas to lead manage a planned capital increase of about EUR 300 mln.
