Supermarket Income to raise £175m for omnichannel spree
Supermarket Income REIT plans to raise £175m in a share placing to snap up omnichannel stores.
The 144,628,099 new ordinary shares will be issued at a price of 121p, a discount of 4.3% to yesterday’s closing price of 126.5p.
It is also a 7.1% premium to the REIT’s last reported EPRA NTA per ordinary share of 113p, as at 31 December 2021.
Supermarket Income REIT plans to raise £175m in a share placing to snap up omnichannel stores.
The 144,628,099 new ordinary shares will be issued at a price of 121p, a discount of 4.3% to yesterday’s closing price of 126.5p.
It is also a 7.1% premium to the REIT’s last reported EPRA NTA per ordinary share of 113p, as at 31 December 2021.
Proceeds from the raise will be used to buy assets already identified by its investment advisor, Atrato Capital.
The company currently has properties worth around £150m under exclusivity, and around £120m in advanced due diligence. It has identified a further pipeline of £440m that meet the company’s investment criteria.
Supermarket Income primarily targets inflation-protected, long-income grocery property. Around 85% of its current rental income is directly linked to inflation.
If the target issue size of £175m is exceeded, the REIT said it will “consider the possibility of acquiring additional assets in the pipeline”.
To date it has bought £372m of supermarket property assets, fully investing the proceeds of the oversubscribed equity raise of £200m in October 2021. This represented the eighth consecutive time the REIT has raised equity and deployed the proceeds within six months.
Its portfolio consists of 41 supermarket assets and an indirect interest in a further 26 Sainsbury’s supermarkets through its joint venture with British Airways Pension Trustees.
Chair Nick Hewson said: “Omnichannel supermarket stores continue to play a pivotal role within the UK’s grocery infrastructure and present a safe haven for investors seeking a source of secure, predominantly inflation-protected income in the current environment of rising inflationary pressures and wider geopolitical uncertainty.
“Our focus on acquiring omnichannel stores allows us to benefit from both in-store and online grocery shopping, driven by the growth of working from home which has boosted the entire grocery sector.”
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