98
98

Merlin Properties Completes Its €614M Capital Increase

8 May 2015 – Expansión

Merlin Properties has completed a capital increase amounting to €613.75 million following the subscription of 64.6 million shares in the listed real estate investment company.

The company will use the funds raised to finance new investment projects.

During the preferential subscription period, which ended on 2 May 2015, 64.5 million shares in Merlin were subscribed, representing 99.8% of the number offered, according to the company’s submission to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Moreover, during the period for assigning additional shares, 787 million additional shares in Merlin were requested, despite the fact that only 124,901 shares were available for placement.

In total, the shares subscribed during the preferential subscription period and the additional shares requested show that demand exceeded supply (the number of shares offered during the capital increase) by 13.2x.

The new shares, which will start trading on 12 May, represent 50% of the share capital of the company before the share increase and 33.3% of the share capital following the increase.

Merlin’s CEO, Ismael Clemente, highlighted the outstanding response to the capital increase and the great interest (sparked) amongst institutional investors in Spain.

On 15 April, the Board of Directors of Merlin Properties agreed to increase its share capital by €613.8 million.

At the time, it stressed that the shares issued would have a nominal issue value of one euro plus a premium of €8.50 per shares, which would result in the payment in cash of €9.50 for each new share.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake