Italy's Aedes Completes Second Financing

Allan Saunderson is managing editor of Property Finance Europe and a contributor to GlobeSt.com.

MILAN-Rapidly restructuring Italian listed property funds group Aedes has closed its latest capital increase, consisting in a conversion of €296 million in bank debt into equity. The move came just weeks after a rights issue in mid-summer brought in €150 million, partly underwritten by its major shareholder, the Amenundi steel and farm machines group.

Aedes is a co-investor and asset manager of real estate funds, services and development with assets at end-December of €4.5 billion. The latest restructuring converted the debt into just over 50 million ordinary shares and 364,000 special shares, a kind of warrant with limited voting rights, convertible into ordinary stock. It thus boosts Aedes total outstanding equity to 1.1 million shares at a subscription price of €0.715 per share. This compares to the recent stock price around €0.25 which gives a current market capitalization of around €280 million.