Placing and admission
Alpha Pyrenees Trust Limited
29 November 2005
29 November 2005
ALPHA PYRENEES TRUST LIMITED
('ALPHA PYRENEES' OR THE 'COMPANY')
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE
UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA OR JAPAN.
Placing to raise £125 million
Admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange
Alpha Pyrenees today announces its intention to seek a full listing on the
London Stock Exchange and to issue 125,000,000 shares at 100p per share through
a placing by Cenkos Securities Limited to institutional investors (the
'Placing'). The Placing is subject to admission of the Company's shares to the
Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange, which is expected to
take place at 8.00 a.m. on 29 November 2005.
The Company is a newly incorporated Guernsey-registered closed-ended investment
company which has been formed to invest in French and Spanish commercial retail
estate, focusing on the industrial, logistics, office and retail sectors.
The Company has appointed Alpha Real Capital LLP ('Alpha Real Capital') as
Investment Manager.
Richard Kingston, an Executive Director of Slough Estates Plc, has been
appointed Chairman of the Company.
Over time, and with bank borrowings, it is expected that a portfolio of
approximately £480 million will be assembled across some 30 properties in France
and Spain, with between 50 and 70 per cent. of the Company's portfolio invested
in France and between 30 and 50 per cent. invested in Spain.
Properties with an average rental yield of between 7.0 and 8.5 per cent. will be
targeted. The Investment Manager will seek to secure income growth through a
combination of inflation-indexed rents with automatic uplifts, turnover-based
rents and an active letting and re-letting programme. The Company is targeting a
dividend yield of 7.0 per cent. per annum at the placing price of 100p, once
fully invested.
Alpha Real Capital proposes to generate returns for shareholders through
acquiring real estate with demonstrable and sustainable yields, using finance
rates and structures which enhance returns and through active asset management
to create additional value.
Phillip Rose, Chief Executive of Alpha Real Capital commented: 'We think the
French and Spanish real estate markets offer an attractive total return
proposition. Alpha Pyrenees gives investors access to these markets through an
efficient, listed structure with the benefit of Alpha Real Capital's
value-adding approach to real estate investing.'
Alpha Pyrenees is being advised by Kinmont Limited, Cenkos Securities Limited
and BDO Stoy Hayward Corporate Finance (a division of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP,
Chartered Accountants).
For further information please contact:
Phillip Rose, CEO, Alpha Real Capital 020 7591 1609
Anna Morgan, ADC Blueprint 020 7349 6280
This announcement shall not constitute or form any part of an offer or
invitation to subscribe for, underwrite or otherwise acquire, or any
solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, securities including in
the United States.
This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the
United States of America. Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be
taken or distributed in the United States of America or distributed or
published, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America. Any failure
to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of US securities law.
The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered
under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 'Securities Act'), and may
not be offered or sold in the United States to or for the benefit of US persons
unless they are registered under the Securities Act or pursuant to an available
exemption therefrom. No public offering of securities is being made in the
United States. The distribution of this announcement and information contained
herein may be restricted by law in other jurisdictions and therefore persons
into whose possession this announcement or information contained herein comes
should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions.
Kinmont Limited, Cenkos Securities Limited and BDO Stoy Hayward Corporate
Finance (a division of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, Chartered Accountants), all of
which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, are
acting exclusively for the Company and no one else in connection with the
Placing and will not be responsible for anyone other than the Company for
providing the protections afforded to their respective clients nor for providing
advice in relation to the Placing.
Information in this announcement cannot be relied upon as a guide to future
performance.
Notes
ABOUT ALPHA REAL CAPITAL
Alpha Real Capital is a value-adding international property funds management
group. Alpha Real Capital was established by Phillip Rose and Sir John Beckwith
and is active in the UK, France and Spain.
Phillip Rose has 25 years' experience in the real estate, fund management and
banking industries in Europe, the USA and Australasia. He has been Head of Real
Estate for ABN AMRO Bank, Chief Operating Officer of European shopping centre
investor and developer TrizecHahn Europe (where he was responsible for a €1
billion European investment and development programme from 1999-2000), Managing
Director of Lend Lease Global Investment where, during his tenure from 1994 to
1999, he was responsible for managing European property investments and
Executive Manager of listed fund General Property Trust. He is currently a
non-executive director of Great Portland Estates and a member of the Management
Committee of the Hermes Property Unit Trust.
Sir John Beckwith has been involved in property investment and other investment
for his entire working life. He founded London & Edinburgh Trust PLC ('LET') in
1971 where he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and developed it into one
of the top ten listed real estate companies in the UK. Following the sale of
LET, he established Pacific Investments through which he founded a number of
successful asset management businesses, including Liontrust Asset Management and
Thames River Capital.
The Company has appointed Alpha Real Capital as Investment Manager. Alpha Real
Capital's CEO, Philip Rose, has been appointed to the Board of the Company and
Alpha Real Capital's European Funds Director, Paul Cable, has been appointed
Fund Manager, Alpha Pyrenees Trust.
Paul Cable has 25 years experience in the real estate and banking industries in
the UK, Europe and the Far East and has been responsible for Sir John Beckwith's
property investment activities in France and Spain for the last six years.
Further information is available at www.alpharealcapital.com including contact
details for Alpha Real Capital's UK, French and Spanish offices.
ABOUT ALPHA PYRENEES
Alpha Pyrenees is a newly incorporated Guernsey registered closed-ended
investment company which has been established for the purposes of investing in
French and Spanish commercial real estate. The Company's shares are expected to
be admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority at 8.00 a.m. on 29
November 2005. The Placing (which is conditional upon Admission) has raised £125
million before expenses and, with bank borrowings, it is expected that a
portfolio of approximately £480 million will be assembled across some 30
properties in France and Spain.
Investment Strategy
Alpha Pyrenees will invest in a diversified portfolio of properties in Spain and
France, focusing on commercial property in the industrial, logistics, office and
retail sectors. Alpha Real Capital believes that there will be capital growth
opportunities in the portfolio through income growth, active asset management
and yield compression.
It is expected that between 50 and 70 per cent. of the Company's portfolio will
be invested in France and that between 30 and 50 per cent. will be invested in
Spain.
Co-investment by Alpha Real Capital
Members of Alpha Real Capital or its management team have subscribed for 2.5
million ordinary shares pursuant to the Placing.
Directors
The Directors of the Company, all of whom are non-executive, are responsible for
the implementation of the investment policy of the Company and the overall
supervision of the Group's activities. The Board consists of:
Richard Kingston (Chairman)
Christopher Bennett
David Jeffreys
Phillip Rose
Serena Tremlett
Richard Kingston is an executive director of Slough Estates Plc, one of the
largest London Stock Exchange listed property companies. He is responsible for
Group Finance at Slough Estates Plc and has been so for nine years, and is
chairman of their continental European real estate activities. He was a
non-executive director of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and is a qualified
Chartered Accountant.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange