Capital & Counties raises £258m for its Covent Garden expansion
CAPITAL & Counties (Capco) raised £258m through a share placing yesterday as it looks to ramp up investment in its £2.3bn Earls Court and Covent Garden estates.
Proceeds from placing will help fund a £85m development between King Street and Floral Street in Covent Garden, where it plans to create a public courtyard with shops, restaurants and 45 flats.
The cash will also be ploughed into its Earls Court regeneration scheme, where it plans to start work this summer. The funds with also help with the £50m-£60m demolition of the Earls Court exhibition centre next year.
Capco placed 75.9m new ordinary shares at 25p each, representing 9.99 per cent of the company’s overall share capital.
BEHIND THE DEAL
BOFA MERRILL LYNCH | SIMON MACKENZIE-SMITH
1 Simon Mackenzie-Smith is Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) chairman of UK & Ireland corporate & investment banking.
2 He has been a longstanding adviser to Capco, acting for the company’s £150m share placing in 2012. BAML has worked with the firm demerged from Liberty and listed in 2010.
3 One of London’s leading investment bankers, Mackenzie-Smith recently advised shopping centre firm Intu on its £500m placing and for engineering firm Amec on its £2bn offer for Foster Wheeler.
Also advising…
UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are acting as joint bookrunners and joint corporate brokers while Oriel Securities is acting as joint bookrunner. Rothschild is Capco’s financial adviser, and BNP Paribas and HSBC are acting as joint co-lead managers. Hudson Sandler are acting as their PR adviser.