IPSX gets a second listing from M7

M7 is launching a second listing on IPSX, the platform on which it floated Mailbox REIT in May. M7’s Regional E-Warehouse REIT will be admitted to IPSX while buying a £120m UK retail warehouse portfolio from one of M7’s investment funds. The listing will transfer almost 1m sq ft of UK warehouse space and around 40 investors to the platform. The portfolio comprises 18 retail warehouses, let to 53 occupiers. Rent collection for Q2 2021 currently stands at 93% and is expected to revert to 100% in the coming quarters. So far, M7 is the only property company to place its assets on the investment exchange, which is the world’s first such exchange dedicated to the initial public offering and secondary market trading of institutional-grade commercial real estate assets. M7 executive chair Richard Croft said the listing “provides multiple benefits for the fund’s current investors”. The benefits, he said, included: “The daily liquidity afforded by transferring from a closed ended private fund to a UK investment company with publicly traded shares on a regulated exchange, as well as the advantages offered through the UK REIT regime, which will become a particular focus for investors ahead of changes to corporation tax in 2023.” In May, Croft described the float of the Mailbox office complex as “the greatest achievement of my career”. He also said: “I feel like I have climbed Everest in my underpants.” Croft has considerable skin in the game as he is also a shareholder in IPSX. “We have already proved the concept of IPSX with Mailbox REIT which, since its IPO earlier this year, has traded consistently at a premium to its opening share price at launch, declared a maiden dividend in line with target and offered liquidity to investors where required,” Croft said. “The proposed floatation of M7 Regional E-Warehouse allows us to build on that momentum by bringing to market a high-quality portfolio of retail warehouses that produces visible and growing income streams as well as the opportunity for capital appreciation.” He added: “One of IPSX’s greatest attributes is that, through securitisation, it enables quick and equal access to investment in commercial real estate, a global asset class that has a value of more than $300tn and yet is a closed shop to many of those operating outside the institutional market.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews