Argosy gets the institutional investors needed for Wellington buy-up
Share trading halt lifted; share price down.
Argosy Property (ARG) was one of NZX’s top decliners yesterday, after lifting its share trading halt following a buy up of Wellington property.
Shares are down from 0.94 cents before the trading halt to 0.915 cents at close of play yesterday.
Argosy announced a placement in a bid to secure $80 million of new funding from institutional investors.
The Auckland-based company has put conditional offers on Wellington cbd properties at 15 Stout Street and New Zealand Post’s Waterloo Quay headquarters.
Argosy paid $33 million for 15 Stout Street and $60 million for Waterloo Quay.
Both will have government tenants and Argosy hopes to go unconditional on at least one of the properties before Friday.
The property company needs $100 million of new equity and will source $20 million from retail investors in January.
The placement has now been completed with the full $80 million raised, at a price of 0.88 cents per share.
Settlement and allotment of the new shares is expected to occur on January 7.
NZX Regulation has also granted Argosy a waiver in respect of rule 9.2.1, so ARG is not required to seek shareholder approval for the institutional placement and property acquisitions in the circumstances where institutional shareholder MFL Mutual Fund participates in the institutional placement.
Meanwhile, the company also announced a $1.2 million sale of 1.1 hectares of vacant land in Palmerston North.
The sale is 59% above book value and is “part of the company’s strategy of selling vacant land and under-yielding property.”
Blair Cunningham
Thu, 20 Dec 2012
Thu, 20 Dec 2012
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Argosy gets the institutional investors needed for Wellington buy-up
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