MAS said it intended to raise additional capital to fund the acquisition of further properties‚ while creating liquidity in the share. The company has its primary listing on the Euro Multilateral Trading Facility in Luxembourg‚ with a secondary listing on the AltX‚ and its portfolio consists of prime real estate in the UK‚ Germany and Switzerland.

Its portfolio includes residential student accommodation‚ retail‚ industrial and office properties. The company said the private placement shares would be offered for subscription to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholding‚ while no offer would be made to the public. The private placement‚ open to applicants only‚ opened on Monday‚ January 28 and will close on February 13. Up to 32.6 million shares of no par value in the share capital of MAS would be issued at 1.05 euro cents per share. Based on MAS’s portfolio‚ as well as market conditions and “access to future deal flow”‚ the company said it had “excellent prospects”.

MAS also said it intended to migrate its AltX listing to the JSE’s main board “as soon as circumstances will allow it to do so and following all necessary approval”‚ due to the constraints on potential institutional investors associated with the AltX. The company said it intended to raise additional capital in coming years. “The expansion of the capital base will be undertaken to exploit continued investment opportunities for the construction of the company’s overall portfolio.

“The company will endeavour to give all MAS shareholders an equal opportunity to subscribe for additional shares in MAS‚ provided that this makes commercial sense and subject to regulatory requirements‚” it said. For the six months ended August last year‚ MAS declared a dividend of 1.91 euro cents per share.

The company concluded two property deals in Scotland in January last year‚ both of which were funded from the capital raised by MAS locally. One of these acquisitions was through an investment in a South African consortium headed by Artisan Real Estate Investors‚ which had acquired a 64‚000m² site in Edinburgh's Old Town. Among the other members of the consortium‚ backed by Sanlam‚ was the Atterbury property group.