Glenveagh to raise €215m in share placing as Oaktree sells half its stake

Glenveagh, the homebuilder that listed on the Irish Stock Exchange last year, said on Tuesday evening it is raising €215 million in a share sale to fund more land acquisitions and development.

Separately, Glenveagh revealed that its main shareholder, US private equity firm Oaktree, plans to sell 55 million shares – equivalent to 8 per cent of the company's current issued share capital and half of the investment firm's current stake – into the market.

Glenveagh, formed from the combination of residential development sites accumulated by US private equity firm Oaktree following the Irish property crash, and the assets of Maynooth-based builder Bridgedale, raised €550 million in its initial public offering (IPO) last October.

The share sales, being managed by securities firms Jefferies and Davy, would take advantage of a surge in the value of the stock from €1 to €1.236 since the flotation.

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The company said last month at its annual general meeting (agm) that it had already deployed €404 million of the capital raised in IPO.

Significant progress

"We have made significant progress since our initial public offering (IPO) and are ahead of schedule in meeting our IPO targets of acquiring land for residential building, constructing and selling houses and apartments, and scaling our business as a plc," said Glenveagh's co-founder and chief executive Justin Bickle on Tuesday.

“The Irish economy continues to perform strongly, with significant unsatisfied demand for housing. Despite that demand, the residential market remains chronically under-supplied. Glenveagh is constructing homes quickly and efficiently and is benefiting from being a listed plc.”

Pipeline sites include approximately €65 million of sites in exclusivity and approximately €361 million of sites under active negotiation, the company said.

Incentive plan

The company’s current land bank has the scope to deliver 10,120 houses and apartments, 31 per cent of which are shovel-ready and 97 per cent of which is zoned residential. As of the time of its agm, it had commenced work on 12 sites, with 700 residential units under construction.

Glenveagh disclosed earlier this month that its three key executives had received €22.5 million of shares in the company under a lucrative incentive plan tied to the IPO.

The plan entitles the executives – executive chairman John Mulcahy, chief executive Justin Bickle and chief operating officer Stephen Garvey – to convert so-called founder shares into ordinary stock over a period of five years, subject to the company hitting a minimum annual return shareholder of 12.5 per cent.