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New Zealand's largest listed investor in prime commercial office property AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO) has raised $40 million in equity through a placement of new units.
ANZO executive manager Rob Lang said 36 million new units would be issued at a price of $1.11, representing a discount of 1.8 per cent to the five-day volume weighted average unit price prior to the announcement of the placement.
The institutional placement was announced this week, in conjunction with the $39.5 million acquisition of Wellington's AXA Centre.
A trading halt was placed on ANZO securities yesterday morning while the new units were placed.
The halt was due to last until the end of business today, unless a restart to trading was announced earlier.
Just before the sharemarket's 10am opening today ANZO said it was applying for a lifting of the halt, and soon after NZX said it had been lifted.
Settlement of the placement and issue of the placement units was expected on Monday, ANZO said.
Gearing -- bank debt to total assets -- had been reduced to 28.6 per cent, giving ANZO approximately $195 million of bank debt capacity before reaching its self-imposed 40 per cent ceiling.
ANZO said it also intended to implement a unit purchase plan of a maximum of $5000 per unit-holder, allowing all of ANZO's unit-holders to take part in the capital-raising initiatives. The proposed plan was expected to be offered early in the New Year.
- NZPA
