C&R shares take a hit
SHOPPING mall and leisure centre operator Capital & Regional yesterday announced plans to raise £60.2m in a deeply discounted share placing, sending its shares plummeting.
The group said South African peer Parkdev had agreed to invest £23.2m for a 25 per cent stake in the company.
The remaining £45.7m will be raised in an underwritten firm placing and placing with an open offer.
Capital & Regional said the two-for -one share offer of 89m shares would be placed at 24p per share, a 75.5 per cent to Wednesday’s closing price. Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Cazenove are acting as underwriters.
The group said the funding will be used to pay down the debt on the group’s revolving credit facility and meet other working capital requirements.
The value of the group’s property portolio has fallen sharply over the past year, to £3.2bn in June from £5.3bn a year earlier, it said.
As a result the group said that in the six months ended 30 June pre-tax profits came to £10.3m, down from £16.4m in the year before.
Its shares closed down by 55.8 per cent at 43.25p.
ADVISER TO CAPITAL & REGIONAL
ROBERT FOWLDS JP MORGAN CAZENOVE
Capital & Regional appointed JP Morgan Cazenove last year to act as advisers to the group.
Robert Fowlds, managing director at JP Morgan Cazenove has been brought in to work on the group’s cash call. He headed the team which included James Taylor and Paul Hewlett.
Fowlds joined the real estate team as managing director in corporate finance in 2006. Previously he was an equity analyst at Merrill Lynch and joint head of the real estate research team, which was voted number one in City rankings for 11 years.
His career as an analyst spanned 20 years mainly at Merrill Lynch and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. His first career was as a Chartered Surveyor (MRICS) with DTZ and Gooch and Wagstaff, specialising in development and investment. Other JP Morgan Cazenove property clients include Land Securities and Grainger.
Credit Suisse’s Mark Seligman and Chris Byrne are also long-term advisers to Capital & Regional.