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London - Property investor and fund manager Redefine International plans to raise £100m by mid-2011 to acquire under-offer Wichford Properties, or buy assets in Europe, it said.
"The thinking is to look at acquisitions of around (the) £200m mark to do a 50-50 loan-to-value ratio and raise £100m," Redefine International's Chief Executive, Mike Watters, said on Monday.
He said shareholders had already expressed interest in the yet-to-be formally proposed fundraising.
Aim-quoted Redefine International, a unit of South African property company Redefine Income Fund [JSE:RDF], is a 21.7% shareholder in small cap Wichford, for which it made an undisclosed offer in November 2010.
Watters said if the Wichford deal went ahead, the combined company would have a capitalisation of about £400m. If it failed, Redefine International would seek another deal in Europe, probably in Germany or Switzerland ahead of the UK.
"We are concerned that growth prospects (in the UK) are the lowest of our three jurisdictions and therefore unless there is something opportunistic, like a Wichford, its highly unlikely that you're going to invest in the UK in the next 12 to 18 months," he said.
Shares in Wichford, which owns about £580m of government occupied buildings in the UK and Europe, last traded at 7.5p. Those in Redefine last traded at 56p.
"The thinking is to look at acquisitions of around (the) £200m mark to do a 50-50 loan-to-value ratio and raise £100m," Redefine International's Chief Executive, Mike Watters, said on Monday.
He said shareholders had already expressed interest in the yet-to-be formally proposed fundraising.
Aim-quoted Redefine International, a unit of South African property company Redefine Income Fund [JSE:RDF], is a 21.7% shareholder in small cap Wichford, for which it made an undisclosed offer in November 2010.
Watters said if the Wichford deal went ahead, the combined company would have a capitalisation of about £400m. If it failed, Redefine International would seek another deal in Europe, probably in Germany or Switzerland ahead of the UK.
"We are concerned that growth prospects (in the UK) are the lowest of our three jurisdictions and therefore unless there is something opportunistic, like a Wichford, its highly unlikely that you're going to invest in the UK in the next 12 to 18 months," he said.
Shares in Wichford, which owns about £580m of government occupied buildings in the UK and Europe, last traded at 7.5p. Those in Redefine last traded at 56p.
