Business
New Investment by Fprop Opportunities plc
New Investment by Fprop Opportunities plc.
About this update from First Property Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 5020U First Property Group PLC 03 December 2013 \n \n\n\n\n\n\nDate:\n\n\n3 December 2013\n\n\n\n\nOn behalf of:\n\n\nFirst Property Group plc (\"First Property\", \"the Company\" or the \"Group\")\n\n\n\n\nEmbargoed:\n\n\n0700hrs\n\n\n\n\n \nFirst Property Group plc \n \nNew Investment by Fprop Opportunities plc\n \nFirst Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the property fund management group, is pleased to announce that Fprop Opportunities plc (FOP), its Polish-focused fund in which the Group is a 76.2% shareholder, has acquired the entire issued share capital of a special purpose limited liability company (\"SPV\") whose sole asset is a multi-let office block in Lublin, Eastern Poland (the \"Lublin Property\"). \n \nThe SPV was acquired by FOP from the USS Fprop Managed Property Portfolio LP, a fund managed by First Property Asset Management Ltd. \n \nThe price paid to acquire the shares in the SPV was €678,000 in cash, based on its expected net asset value. The price is subject to a final reconciliation, based on the SPV's completion balance sheet, expected to take place in December 2013.\n \nAt the date of the acquisition the SPV had third party borrowings of some €12.1 million.\n \nThe Lublin Property is generating a net operating income of some €1.4 million per annum. However, a significant lease, to which the property is subject, expires on 31 March 2014 and the net operating income is expected to reduce to €1 million per annum until this space is re-let. With the exception of this lease expiry the weighted average unexpired lease term, to which the property is subject, is over four years. \n \nThe investment is expected to generate a contribution to the profit before tax of FOP of over €500,000 for the year to 31 March 2015.\n \nCommenting on the acquisition, Ben Habib, Chief Executive of First Property Group plc, said:\n \n\"This is the first investment made by our Polish-focused fund, Fprop Opportunities plc, since December 2010 and marks a return to active investment by FOP following the on-set of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011. The investment landscape has improved since then and the Polish economy is forecast to grow at an increasing rate in 2014. \n \n\"I am pleased that FOP has acquired this property, which is well known to ...