NewRiver Retail raises £75m to fund shopping mall deal

3rd Dec 2014 09:29

Shopping mall investor NewRiver Retail is raising up to £75m in a share placing to fund its £71m purchase of the remaining 90% of a shopping centre joint venture from LVS Luxembourg.NewRiver plans to use the cash from the placing to finance the acquisition of a portfolio comprising five shopping centres and a single high street asset with a net let-able area of about one million square feet across more than 200 tenancies with an average lease length outstanding of 7.2 years."Since NewRiver's acquisition of its initial 10% interest in 2012, the assets have performed well and have benefited from the company's active asset management. Looking forward, the assets present a range of significant further opportunities to enhance value," the group said.NewRiver also said it would pay a third quarterly dividend for the current year of a further 4.25p per share on 30 January.Liberum Capital is acting as sole bookrunner and will be sole underwriter in relation to the placing.Shares in NewRiver fell 2.5p or 0.8% to 297.5p at 09:53 in London.