Cromwell E-Reit's placement raises €150m gross proceeds within a day

CROMWELL European Real Estate Investment Trust (Cromwell) has raised some €150 million (S$230 million) in gross proceeds from its "considerably over-subscribed" placement within a day, at an issue price of €0.460 per new unit, the company announced on Friday.

The placement, which launched on Friday morning, closed its books on the same day. Strong demand allowed for the full exercise of the placement upsize, raising additional gross proceeds of about €50 million.

Subscribers to the placement included both existing unitholders and new investors, such as regional and global long-only institutional investors, property specialist funds and private wealth clients.

The issue price is at the lower end of Cromwell's issue price range of €0.46 to €0.47 per unit. It represents a 5.9 per cent discount to the adjusted volume-weighted average price of €0.4886 per unit for trades between June 20 and the placement launch, excluding married trades.

Some €140.9 million of the proceeds will be used to partially fund the acquisition of six properties located in France and Poland.

Meanwhile, about €9.1 million will go towards fees, including land transfer taxes, professional fees and expenses, related to the property acquisitions and the placement. The balance will be used for general corporate or working capital purposes.

Trading of the new units will commence on the Singapore Exchange on July 2.

Units of Cromwell closed flat at €0.505 on Friday.