Instone eyes Frankfurt listing

Instone Real Estate Group, an Essen-based residential development unit of Activum, is gearing up to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard) this year, it announced this month.

The planned private placement will consist of newly issued shares from a capital increase with total gross proceeds of around €150m as well as of existing shares from the holdings of the current shareholders, funds established by ActivumSG Capital Management Limited as well as the newly issued shares, or ‘base shares’. The final size of the placement has yet to be determined.

Additional shares to cover an over-allotment option of up to 15% of the base shares will also be made available by the existing shareholders. Instone intends to use approximately two-thirds of the expected gross proceeds for the acquisition and development of new residential projects, as well as for other corporate and transaction expenses. Approximately one third of the gross proceeds will be used to fully repay an existing shareholder loan.

‘Thanks to our unique development pipeline and proven continuous sourcing capabilities, we are well positioned to further benefit from the strong potential of the attractive German residential property market,’ said Instone’s CEO, Kruno Crepulja. ‘The proceeds from the capital increase will expand our flexibility to accelerate our growth,’ he added.

The group has 48 development projects in the pipeline, representing an aggregate expected sales volume of about €3.4b, of which around a third is in Frankfurt. Instone has already pre-sold 64% of its residential units due to be completed by 2020.