Vector Hospitality has completed the sale of £588 mln (EUR 866 mln) of convertible bonds. The UK hotel owner Vector sold five-year bonds with a coupon of 2.75%, the lower end of a proposed range that was as high as 3.25%, the London-based company said today in a regulatory news service statement. The bonds will have a conversion premium of 32% more than the IPO price, the top end of a proposed range that started at 27%. 'The strength of demand generated by the offering has allowed the extension option to be fully exercised and for the coupon and conversion premium to be set at the best ends of the marketing ranges for Vector,' the company said.

Vector Hospitality has completed the sale of £588 mln (EUR 866 mln) of convertible bonds. The UK hotel owner Vector sold five-year bonds with a coupon of 2.75%, the lower end of a proposed range that was as high as 3.25%, the London-based company said today in a regulatory news service statement. The bonds will have a conversion premium of 32% more than the IPO price, the top end of a proposed range that started at 27%. 'The strength of demand generated by the offering has allowed the extension option to be fully exercised and for the coupon and conversion premium to be set at the best ends of the marketing ranges for Vector,' the company said.

Bloomberg reported that demand for property shares has allowed European real-estate companies to raise at least EUR 3.6 bn in IPOs this year, double the amount raised in the same period in 2006. Vector, which is raising as much as EUR 3.68 bn in an IPO, plans to buy hotels valued at EUR 3.8 bn, from Royal Bank of Scotland Group and two companies run by Richard Balfour-Lynn, who led the buyout of hotel group De Vere Group last year.

As rising prices of real estate bring down yields, property companies are obliged to seek out the lowest possible borrowing costs when acquiring new assets, making convertible debt attractive, Rossitza Haritova, an analyst at Nomura in London told Bloomberg. Buyers of convertible bonds accept lower coupons than on traditional bonds in return for the option of swapping the securities for shares. The bonds will initially be convertible into 40 million shares of Vector.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and UBS managed the convertible bond sale.