British Land to raise 500m pounds to fund flow of opportunities

UK real estate group British Land has announced its intention to raise half a billion pounds to fund 'attractive investment opportunities'.

The company said it has had a strong track record of growing returns through accretive investment and development activity, and has completed £213m of acquisitions in recent months.

With a "significant pipeline" of potential investment opportunities in its core sectors in London and the South East, the company said that the placing "will provide it with additional investment capacity, enabling it to capitalise upon its scale and financial strength to drive future growth in earnings and returns."

The company said Monday that it intends to place nearly 90m new ordinary shares representing around 9.99% of its existing share capital to raise £500m, £213m of which will go towards recent purchases with a further £150m in advanced negotiation.

The firm said that it has seen an acceleration in the flow of opportunities in its core sectors recently.

"Many of these opportunities are being driven by structural changes, as institutions reconfigure their property holdings and smaller competitors look to exit the UK market.

"In addition, the company believes that vendors are showing an increasing realism around values, with access to finance continuing to constrain many buyers."

Separately, British Land also announced that it has sold Ropemaker Place in London to an international consortium of investors for £472m, in line with its strategy of "recycling capital and balancing its London portfolio between the West End and City markets".

The proceeds will be reinvested into its London-focused development programme.