Capco announces share placing to progress Covent Garden and Earls Court

14th May 2014 08:41

Capital & Counties (CAPCO) is placing up to 75.9m shares to raise funds for its developments at Covent Garden and Earls Court. The proceeds of the placing will be used to grow value at Covent Garden, where it recently set a new ERV target of £75m to be achieved by December 2016. The group plans to commit to capital expenditure of around £85m at the Kings Court and Carriage Hall redevelopment later this year, and to explore and exploit opportunities to extend its presence in the area. The funds raised will also be used to create value at Earls Court, where it has been developing its presence for the past four years, by continuing the construction of Lillie Square and acquiring additional land interest around the Exhibition Centres site, which is due to be demolished in 2015. The group's net asset value has grown from £791m at December 31st 2009 to £1.9bn as of December 31st 2013, and from 127p to 249p respectively on a per share basis. Total return in 2013 was 23%."The company expects the initiatives outlined above to continue to create and grow value across Capco's estates, and that investing the placing proceeds in these initiatives will be accretive to net asset value per share," the group said. The placing shares equate to around 9.99% of the existing issued share capital. The share price fell 1.49% to 343.70p by 09:15 on Wednesday. NR