Whitewood Reff IPO: Benelux focused property firm to float in London
A property arm of Whitewood Group has unveiled plans to float in London to raise cash for a push into Holland and Belgium’s commercial property sector.
Whitewood Reff will raise up to £125m from listing and aims to start trading on the main market of the London stock exchange next week.
The vehicle, led by Whitewood boss Frederic Van Der Planken and chaired by former Barings counsel Talmai Morgan, will use the cash to make profit sharing loans to commercials property developments in Benelux.
Finncap is acting as sole broker, sponsor and bookrunner on the float.
Van Der Planken said there was “significant opportunity” to invest in Benelux “owing to limited local finance being available both for re-financing purposes and for new development”.
“Incumbent lenders are over-extended and over-leveraged and there is significant pressure on their balance sheets,” he added.
The group will make loans to borrowers on the basis that any profits made by refinancing or selling the office block will go back to the company.
It says it currently has a pipeline of potential investments worth £178m.
Whitewood says it hopes to take advantage of the difficulty developers face in obtaining finance for new developments or refinancings in Holland and Belgium.
Markets saw a resurgence in activity last year, with landmark deals such as the €200m purchase of The Edge building (pictured) in Amsterdam by Deka Immobilien and the €475m sale of the North Galaxy building in Brussels to ATP underlining the trend.
BEHIND THE DEAL: STUART ANDREWS | FINNCAP
1 Andrews, who qualified as an accountant at Price Waterhouse, is head of corporate finance at FinnCap, which he joined in early 2012.
2 He previously worked at Beeson Gregory and Evolution Securities and has worked on about 20 IPOs and over 100 market public market transactions in his career.
3 He’s also a member of the Aim Advisory Group. Late last year he helped bring Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’ The People’s Operator company to the market
Also advising…
FinnCap is the firm’s solo broker, bookrunner and sponsor. Newgate is handling press relations for the flotation