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Johannesburg - Emira Property Fund has embarked on a series of proactive debt extensions.
Emira is a JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) that is invested in a diversified portfolio of office, retail and industrial properties. Its assets comprise 145 properties valued at R12.7bn.
Emira is also internationally diversified through its direct interest in ASX-listed Growthpoint Properties Australia (GOZ), valued in excess of R796m, with total property assets now at R13.5bn.
“We’ve extended our debt expiry profile meaningfully, retained a similar rate of funding, secured diverse funding sources and improved our spread of our debt expiries. Emira is taking a prudent and conservative approach to debt and doing it the right way by refinancing earlier rather than later in context of the current market,” said Geoff Jennett, CEO of Emira Property Fund.
Safeguarding its conservative debt profile, on August 19 it refinanced R500m secured DMTN notes, over three and five years.
Then it refinanced R175m of unsecured commercial paper on August 23 by raising R200m of new commercial paper with 6 month and 12-month maturity profiles.
On September 1, it went on to extend two term-loans with RMB, of a combined R835m, originally set to mature in July 2016 and March 2017, to September 2018 and September 2019 respectively.
Emira also drew down on its new R250m Absa two-year facility, which will contribute towards funding its recent strategic acquisitions.
“Property is a long-term asset and Emira funds 30% to 35% of our total assets with debt. So, by extending our debt profile, we’ve also improved our risk profile. Our weighted average maturity of debt expiries has been moved from 1.8 years to 2.5 years, establishing a significantly longer-dated debt profile. We’ve also reduced the amount of debt maturing at any one point in time, resulting in more manageable chunks of debt,” said Jennett.
Emira’s debt book management is supported by its moderate gearing profile of 33%.
