Grand City shareholder raises €320m in Paris IPO

The Cyprus-registered Aroundtown Property Holdings plc has raised €320m in a capital increase following its June IPO on the Paris stock exchange. The discrete holding company is principally involved in investing in turnaround assets in Germany through its stakes in listed firms Grand City Properties, Primecity and Camelbay,

The initial listing on Euronext in Paris was carried out in June and the capital increase during the month of July.

The company issued 100m shares at a price of €3.20 per share and there is now a free float of 24%. The €320m of proceeds will be used to finance the firm’s expansion plans. It also issued a €450m convertible bond in April to fund its growth.

Aroundtown has been investing in European real estate since 2004 and holds stakes in several publicly traded subsidiaries and affiliates. These include a 34% stake in Grand City Properties, a listed Luxembourg-based specialist in opportunistic German housing situations; a 56% stake in Primecity Investment, listed in Paris with €700m mainly 4-star hotel property holdings throughout Germany; and Camelbay, a 100% subsidiary which manages €1bn of multi-tenant German commercial properties.

Aroundtown increased net profit more than 200% to €285m in the second quarter, with funds from operations up 124% to €19.5m, mainly due to an improved financing structure and acquisitions. Group assets totalled €4.4bn at end-March.