Ground Rents Income Fund in £50m fundraising

THE Ground Rents Income Fund (GRIF), a listed investment trust managed by Hale-based Braemar Estates, is to raise £50m through a new share placing.

The placing of convertible preference shares is expected to close before the end of April and will be subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting in May.

The fundraising will bring GRIF’s total assets to £100m.

In a trading update the fund said it had now invested £34m since an initial public offering in August and deals worth £10m are going through due diligence.

Since January it has spent £2.4m on the ground rents for the Gateway mixed-use scheme in Leeds and acquired a portfolio of ground rents for 541 units in the North West and Midlands from Morris Homes for £2.4m. It also spent £2.7m on the ground rents of One Park West in Liverpool, a mixed-use 17-storey building that is part of Liverpool One.

James Agar, Braemar’s investment director and adviser to GRIF, said: “Progress since the initial public offering has been ahead of our expectations and we reached the 50% invested milestone in December 2012.

“We have made a number of significant additions to the portfolio and maintain our focus on delivering investment in a timely manner. The acquisitions that we have completed have secured a greater than anticipated weighting to RPI-linked income.

“We have some excellent visibility for the next £50m worth of investment and anticipate further large scale portfolio assets being added to the portfolio in due course.”