Tritax Big Box to raise £300m in placing to accelerate development plan

(Sharecast News) - Tritax Big Box REIT said on Wednesday that it plans to raise around £300m in a placing, subscription and retail offer to accelerate its development plan.

The investor in and developer of high-quality large scale logistics real estate said it expects to accelerate its investment into pre-let development projects, speculative developments and to make further investment in drawing down of land and associated infrastructure works.

These projects are expected to deliver around 4.7 million sq ft of new logistics space, targeting £34m of potential incremental contracted annual rent from development activity.

Tritax said it will also continue to appraise potential investment acquisitions on an opportunistic basis.

Chief executive officer of Fund Management Colin Godfrey said: "Over the past two years our logistics focused land portfolio, which we believe to be the largest in the UK, has continued to mature with planning consents successfully secured in a range of attractive locations across the UK.

"The portfolio is now primed to capture the significant increase in demand we are currently experiencing, with occupier activity now reaching levels that has the potential to exceed our original expectations of 2-3 million sq ft of annual development over the medium term.

"This equity fundraise provides us with the capital to accelerate our development activity while preserving overall balance sheet strength and continuing to deliver attractive returns to shareholders."