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- Investment management company Centuria Capital Group (CNI) will acquire the Visy glass facility in Auckland New Zealand, for NZ$178.3 million (roughly A$166.8 million)
- The facility will be bought by Centuria’s subsidiary, Augusta Capital, on a 20-year sale and leaseback agreement
- To pay for the acquisition and to strengthen its balance sheet, Centuria is looking to raise $100 million through a one-for-15 entitlement offer and institutional placement
- The offer has been priced at $2.25 per security – representing a 2.8 per cent discount to the five-day volume-weighted average price
- Centuria has also upgraded its operating earnings per share (EPS) and dividend per share (DPS) guidance for FY21 by 9.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively
- Centuria is still in a trading halt, with shares last trading for $2.29 on Wednesday, October 21
Centuria Capital Group (CNI) is set to acquire the Visy glass facility in Auckland New Zealand, for NZ$178.3 million (roughly A$166.8 million).
The investment management company entered a trading halt before market open saying it would announce an acquisition and capital raising by Friday, October 23.
The Visa facility will be acquired by Centuria’s subsidiary, New Zealand-based Augusta Capital, on a 20-year sale and leaseback.
The facility will form a new New Zealand single asset unlisted fund to be launched by Augusta Capital and underwritten by Centuria. Importantly, this acquisition is the largest single asset unlisted fund the company has launched and, as a result of the buy, Centuria’s assets under management will increase to around $10 billion.
“We are very pleased with the momentum of our New Zealand business since the acquisition of Augusta Capital. To date in FY21, Centuria has successfully added $0.9 billion in AUM with a further $0.3 billion in assets under due diligence,” Joint CEO Jason Huljich said.
To pay for the acquisition, the billion-dollar company will raise a fully underwritten $100 million equity raising in the form of an entitlement offer and institutional placement.
The one-for-15 non-renounceable pro-rata entitlement offer will raise $80.5 million and will be split into 2 components.
The first component is an institutional entitlement offer which will be offered to institutional security holders. The second component is a retail entitlement offer to retail security holders who may apply for their pro-rata entitlement.
The remaining $19.5 million of the equity raise will be sought through an institutional placement.
Under the equity raise, new securities will be offered at $2.25 which marks a 1.7 per cent discount to the last close price of $2.29 per security on October 21 and a 2.8 per cent discount to the five-day volume-weighted average price of $2.32.
The raise will strengthen Centuria’s balance sheet by allowing it to repay debt and will also fund the Visy acquisition. After the equity raising, the company will have around $105 million of working capital.
In addition to the equity raise and Visy facility acquisition, Centuria has also upgraded its FY21 operating earnings per share (EPS) guidance by 9.1 per cent to between 11.5 and 12.5 cents per security. It has also increased its FY21 dividend per share (DPS) guidance from 8.5 cents to 9 cents per security.
“Centuria has upgraded both its operating EPS guidance and DPS guidance following strong property funds management activity to date in FY21, with a meaningful proportion of these earnings generated from our New Zealand business unit underpinning our ongoing confidence in this acquisition,” Joint CEO John McBain said.
Centuria is still in a trading halt, with shares last trading for $2.29 on Wednesday, October 21.
