Australian Unity Investments (AUI) has opened the $67 million discounted rights issue for its retail property fund to the public, following the successful raising of almost $30 million from existing investors.
The public offer, which is now open, allows anyone to purchase units in the fund at a 10 per cent discount to its daily security price on a first-come, first-served basis.
The capital raised will be primarily used to fund an expansion of the Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre in Geelong, Victoria, the flagship property in the fund.
The initial offer, to existing investors only, opened in November 2010 and provided a limited priority rights offer to purchase one additional security for every two securities already held in the fund at a 10 per cent discount.
While the original offer raised almost half the required funds, the firm expected the public offer would also receive a high level of interest from new investors, AUI property, mortgages and capital markets general manager Mark Pratt said.
"Over the last few years, a number of organisations have struggled to raise capital through discounted rights issues, but the response to our capital raising has been very positive," Pratt said.
"We believe this success shows a renewed appetite and optimism for direct property investment. In particular, it shows retail investor support for a high-quality unlisted property fund, such as the retail property fund."
He said the fund continued to provide investors with access to good-quality assets and a regular income stream.
"In addition, it is one of the few unlisted property funds to offer a structured quarterly liquidity facility that allows investors to manage their liquidity requirements," he said.
