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Colonial Will Increase its Share Capital by €180M to Finance Merger with Axiare

21 April 2018 – Expansión

The merger between Colonial and Axiare is moving ahead. The Socimi chaired by Juan José Brugera is expected to approve a capital increase at its next General Shareholders’ Meeting, scheduled for 24 May, to absorb the 13% stake in Axiare that it does not control yet. The capital increase will take place through the issue of 19.27 million new shares, which at current prices corresponds to a monetary value of around €181 million.

On 10 April 2018, the Boards of Directors of Colonial and Axiare approved the project to merge the two Socimis, which will give rise to a real estate giant with a portfolio of assets worth around €11 billion, which will place the new group very close to its rival Merlin, with assets of €11.254 billion.

This operation will go ahead after Colonial successfully completed its takeover of Axiare in February to acquire 87% of its share capital. The operation will involve the termination due to dissolution of Axiare and the block transfer of the Socimi’s assets to Colonial.

According to the approved exchange ratio, each existing shareholder of Axiare will receive 1.8554 shares in Colonial. To this end, the Catalan real estate company will submit to a vote by its shareholders the issue of a maximum of 19.27 million new ordinary shares with a nominal value of €2.50 each to pay for the merger exchange.

This operation will also be subject to a vote by the shareholders of Axiare, whose General Meeting is due to be held on 25 May on the first call and on 28 May on the second call, if the necessary quorum is not reached on the first call.

New Board

The items on the agenda for that General Shareholders’ Meeting include the appointment of Javier López Casado as a proprietary director, as a representative of Finaccess, which will then have two representatives on the Board after taking control of 18% of the group’s share capital. In this way, Axiare’s most senior governance body will comprise 11 members: four independent directors, two executive directors and five proprietary directors – two to represent the sovereign fund of Qatar, two to represent Finaccess and one to represent the Colombian firm Santo Domingo-.

On the other hand, Colonial is going to approve the distribution of a dividend amounting to €0.18 per share, up by 9%. The company is thus going to increase the remuneration to its investors with a third dividend payment after recovering it in 2016, following ten years of not paying the shareholders anything.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake