Homeless shelter investment firm plans £250m London float
Homeless accommodation provider Home Reit has this morning announced that it will float on the London Stock Exchange market next month.
The trust, which seeks to invest in accommodation for homeless people across the UK, is looking to raise £250m from the initial public offering.
The first real estate trust to float in London since 2018, Home Reit is targeting returns of 7.5 per cent per year for investors.
The trust is the brainchild of boutique investment house Alvarium, and is working in conjunction with homelessness charity Crisis to eradicate the issue.
It will seek to invest in a diversified portfolio of assets for homeless people coming from different backgrounds, including women fleeing domestic violence, people leaving prison, individuals suffering from mental health or drug and alcohol issues and foster care leavers.
Home Reit will either acquire or develop new accommodation to match demand, with long leases lasting 20 to 30 years.
It added that it had already identified suitable assets worth a combined £350m.
From September 2021, the trust is seeking a minimum dividend of 5.5p.
Lynne Fennah, Chairman of Home REIT plc, commented: “The Alvarium team has capitalised and transacted over £1.5bn of real estate assets with a particular focus on accessing secure, long-let and index-linked UK real estate with extensive expertise in the homeless accommodation asset sector.
“We believe a significant investment opportunity now exists in the UK homeless accommodation asset market and the Alvarium team has already identified a substantial pipeline of homeless accommodation assets that we, and the Alvarium team, consider are at low and sustainable rent levels”.
According to homelessness charity Shelter, as of November 2018 there were 320,000 people sleeping rough in the UK.