Klépierre issues €600m bond

The French real estate investment trust Klépierre has raised €600 million through a bond issue.

The French real estate investment trust Klépierre has raised €600 million through a bond issue.

imagesThe firm, which specialises in shopping centre development and investment, announced that it issued a 15-year euro bond, priced at a 60 basis points margin over the swap rate, translating into a coupon of 1.25 percent.

The bond was three-times oversubscribed, the company said. The notes were placed quickly after launch with “long-term, high quality” global investors, it added. Investors from France, the UK and Germany bought 73 percent of the allocated book.

The bond featured the lowest coupon ever for a long-dated euro bond issue by a REIT, Klépierre said.

Barclays, Credit Agricole-CIB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Société Générale acted as active book-runners for the new issue.

Meanwhile, Klépierre has also launched a cash tender offer on two outstanding bonds; a €500 million bond maturing in September 2019 and offering a 2.75 percent coupon, and a €500 million bond issued by Corio NV maturing in February 2021 and offering a 3.25 percent coupon.

JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland and Société Générale are acting as active book-runners in the tender offer.

Klépierre said that the transactions support its strategy of reducing its financing costs and extending its average maturity schedule. The firm said that, assuming current market conditions, the net cost of debt should decline below 2 percent by 2017.

As at the end of June, Klépierre’s portfolio was valued at €22.6 billion and comprises shopping centers in 16 countries.