Bruntwood announces retail bond
Bruntwood has revealed details of a retail bond issue which could help it to raise up to £70m and further diversify its funding base.
The 6% sterling retail bond will be secured against the Manchester company's £891m property portfolio and will be due in 2020.
The majority of retail bonds issued to date have been corporate bonds without security.
The bonds will be issued on Wednesday 24 July 2013.
Fixed interest at the rate of 6% per annum, will be payable semi-annually in arrears on 24 July and 24 January of each year until 24 July 2020.
The first coupon payment will be on 24 January 2014.
At any time during the life of the bonds, investors are permitted to sell the bonds on the open market through their stockbroker.
Investec Bank is acting as sole manager on the issue.
The bonds have a minimum initial subscription amount of £2,000 and are available in multiples of £100 thereafter.
The offer period is now open and is expected to close at 12 noon on Wednesday 17 July.
The bonds are expected to be listed on the UK Listing Authority's Official List and admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's regulated market and through its electronic Order Book for Retail Bonds.
Authorised distributors for the bonds are Barclays Stockbrokers, Brown Shipley, Interactive Investor Trading, Killik & Co, Redmayne Bentley and Selftrade.
Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood, said: "We are very pleased to announce the launch of our first retail bond.
"This will enable us to diversify our funding base without increasing our leverage.
"Bruntwood has operated in the regional property sector for 37 years and looks forward to joining the growing number of companies in the retail bond market trading on the LSE ORB platform."
