Ignis' UK Commercial Property trust raises £150m in share placing

UK Commercial Property trust, a Guernsey registered property investment company managed by Ignis Asset Management, is close to completing a £150 million equity raising at a premium to NAV, reflecting increased investor appetite for UK commercial property.

The £790 million UK commercial property investment trust's 195 million ordinary share placing at a price of 77.1p per share, a 6% premium to NAV, is fully subscribed and set to complete next week. The board intends to use the net proceeds from the issue to fund the acquisition of further commercial properties and also recently announced the acquisition of a portfolio of properties with a market value of £146 million by the company in October 2009 from Phoenix Life Limited, which owned 35.95% of the trust in October. 

An announcement last week by the trust added: 'The issue remains conditional upon the passing of a resolution by Independent Shareholders to approve the participation of Phoenix & London Assurance Limited in the Placing (as a related party transaction) at the extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held on 10 February 2010.' 

As the issue is fully subscribed, 64,850,843 new ordinary shares, with an aggregate issue price of approximately £50 million, will be issued to Phoenix & London Assurance Limited under the Placing.

Back in October the UK commercial property investment trust stated that following completion of the acquisition, the Pearl Group Companies would own around 72.62% of the Company's issued share capital (excluding Shares held by the Company in treasury).

At 9:34 the UK Commercial Property trust was trading at 78.70p, up 0.20p or 0.25% on the day.