Highly successful capital increase for conwert Immobilien Invest (AT)

conwert Immobilien Invest AG has successfully completed the biggest capital increase in conwert's history with a complete placement of the offered shares. The new shares offered were oversubscribed by approx. 70% mainly due to the strong interest of international institutional investors. conwert intends to use the gross proceeds of approx. €291.47 million from the offering towards the financing of conwert's further growth.

The strong demand for conwert shares from existing and new investors alike was a significant factor in successfully placing the capital increase. Due to the companys increasing internationalisation, in particular, international investors across Europe invested in the offered shares. 50% of the new shares were subscribed by international investors, especially real estate funds. The remaining 50% were subscribed by Austrian institutional and private investors. The shareholder base of the company was again expanded.

The gross proceeds from the capital increase of approx. €291.47 million will serve as equity for the further expansion of conwert's property portfolio. conwert's objective is to increase the non-Austrian share of itsreal estate portfolio to up to 46% in the medium term. Particularly the German market in the residential segment offers attractive investment opportunities due to the favourable entry prices. Furthermore, conwert is investigating interesting residential property markets in the rest of Europe. In addition, parts of the proceeds are to be invested in the development of properties already in the portfolio.

In line with its financing structure of a debt-equity ratio of approx. 60% to 40% and taking into account the proceeds from the offering, conwert now has available a total of approx. €725 million for investments. Therefore, conwert could expand its property portfolio to over €1.8 billion. At present, property assets amount to some €1.2 billion.

After the registration of the capital increase with the Commercial Register, conwert's registered share capital will increase from €391.23 million to €586.845 million. The number of issued shares will increase from 39,123,000 to 58,684,500 and, on the basis of the current share price, the market capitalisation will increase to more than €870 million. The first day of trading in the new shares on the Vienna Stock Exchange is expected to be on or about April 11, 2006. Joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the transaction were Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG and Wiener Privatbank Immobilieninvest AG.

Source: conwert

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