Green Property plans to sell a £150-£200 million sterling (€245-€327 million) bond in coming weeks to repay existing bank debt. Mr Danny Kitchen, finance director at Green said the exercise was "really just to shift the profile of the debt".
The bond is likely to have a 12 to 15 year maturity and investment banks Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Wasserstein and HSBC have been appointed to lead manage the issue. The offering is expected to include a convenant, which will allow investors to sell the bonds back to Green at par if securitised debt exceeds 35 per cent of adjusted capital and reserves.
Analysts said the bond made sense in the current climate of low interest rates and favourable borrowing conditions within the sterling bond market. "Green Property would have a strong balance sheet and is able to attain a very good rate. There is no specific reason behind this other than debt management," said one analyst.
Green Property's last entry into the bond market was in June 1999 with a sale of a £100 million sterling 7.25 per cent bond which matures in July 2009.
Mr Kitchen said the company was disappointed with the recent decision by An Bord Pleanβla to refuse permission to build a further six retail warehousing units with a total space of more than 162,000 square feet at its Blanchardstown Centre. Green Property said at the end of October that it would invest €38 million in the centre over the next 18 months on the retail park and an office development on which construction had already started.
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