Alpha Group International Regulatory News (ALPH)

1 Jun 2006 07:02

Alpha Pyrenees Trust Limited01 June 2006 For publication in the United Kingdom only. Not for release, publication ordistribution in or into any other jurisdiction including the United States,Canada, Australia, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland or Japan. 1 June 2006 Alpha Pyrenees Trust Limited ("Alpha Pyrenees" or the "Company") Proposed acquisition of a property in Evreux, France, proposed issue of2,500,000 ordinary shares, proposed alteration of the Company's borrowing powersand extraordinary general meeting. The Board of Alpha Pyrenees (the "Board") is pleased to announce that the AlphaPyrenees group has entered into a conditional acquisition agreement for thepurchase of a property at ZAC Du Long Buisson, Commune du Vieil-Evreux,Normandy, France (the "Evreux Property"). The tenant is LaboratoireGlaxoSmithKline SAS. The Evreux Property is used as a distribution warehousefor pharmaceutical goods and will provide a property income stream which willenhance the Alpha Pyrenees group's earnings. The consideration for the acquisition of the Evreux Property is €10,450,000 incash, representing an initial purchase yield (including "build cost"reimbursement) of 8.4 per cent. per annum before estimated purchase costs. Thisis consistent with an independent valuation of the Evreux Property as at 1 May2006. As referred to in the Company's flotation prospectus dated 23 November 2005, thevendor, SCI Clivaden, is a subsidiary undertaking of Pacific Investments IILimited ("Pacific Investments"), a company controlled by Sir John Beckwith, thechairman and controlling member of Alpha Real Capital LLP ("Alpha Real Capital"), the Company's investment manager. As a result of this relationship, both the acquisition and the related issue of shares are subject to shareholderapproval. At the time of the Company's flotation the prospectus disclosed the intentionthat Pacific Investments, or a subsidiary undertaking thereof, would subscribefor 2,500,000 ordinary shares in the Company at the placing price of 100 penceat the same time as the Alpha Pyrenees group completed the acquisition of theEvreux Property. Under the terms of the agreement, it is proposed to issue suchshares to a subsidiary undertaking of Alpha Real Capital, Sir John Beckwith,members of his family, charitable and other trusts associated with him andemployees of Alpha Real Capital. Given that Alpha Real Capital is the Company'sinvestment manager, and Sir John Beckwith's position as a member of Alpha RealCapital, the issue of the shares is subject to shareholder approval. At the time of flotation, in keeping with the Listing Rules, the Company wasrequired to limit its borrowing powers to 65 per cent. of the Company's grossassets. As referred to in the Company's flotation prospectus, the Listing Rulesdo allow for property investment companies such as Alpha Pyrenees to seekshareholder approval for a higher level of gearing. As envisaged at the time offlotation, the Directors will put a resolution to the extraordinary generalmeeting under which the Company will amend its borrowing powers to allow forborrowings of up to 95 per cent. of the Company's gross assets. In practice,the Board currently intends to target borrowings of 75 per cent. of grossassets. It is expected that the resolutions will be proposed at an extraordinary generalmeeting to be convened for Monday, 26 June 2006. Upon the acquisition being approved by shareholders, it is expected thatcompletion will take place, following the satisfaction of certain conditions, bylate July 2006. The acquisition is not conditional upon shareholder approval ofeither the allotment of the 2,500,000 ordinary shares or the proposed alterationto the articles of association in connection with the Company's borrowinglevels. The circular convening the extraordinary general meeting and setting out fulldetails of the summary set out in this announcement will shortly be despatchedto shareholders. Contacts: Phillip Rose, CEO, Alpha Real Capital 020 7591 1609John O'Malley, Kinmont 020 7493 8488 Kinmont Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial ServicesAuthority, is acting exclusively for the Company and no one else in connectionwith the proposals set out herein and will not be responsible to anyone otherthan the Company for providing the protections afforded to their clients nor forproviding advice in relation to the proposals. Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken or distributed intothe United States of America or distributed or published, directly orindirectly, in the United States of America. Any failure to comply with thisrestriction may constitute a violation of US securities law. The securitiesreferred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the USSecurities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not beoffered or sold in the United States to or for the benefit of US persons unlessthey are registered under the Securities Act or pursuant to an availableexemption therefrom. No public offering of securities is being made in theUnited States. The distribution of this announcement and information containedherein may be restricted by law in other jurisdictions and therefore personsinto whose possession this announcement or information contained herein comesshould inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Notes: ABOUT ALPHA REAL CAPITAL Alpha Real Capital is a value-adding international property funds managementgroup with operations in both the French and Spanish real estate markets. AlphaReal Capital was established by Phillip Rose and Sir John Beckwith. Phillip Rose has 25 years' experience in the real estate, funds management andbanking industries in Europe, the USA and Australasia. He has been Head of RealEstate for ABN AMRO Bank, Chief Operating Officer of European shopping centreinvestor and developer TrizecHahn Europe (where he was responsible for a €1billion European investment and development programme from 1999-2000), ManagingDirector of Lend Lease Global Investment where, during his tenure from 1994 to1999, he was responsible for managing European property investments andExecutive Manager of listed fund General Property Trust. He is currently anon-executive director of Great Portland Estates and a member of the ManagementCommittee of the Hermes Property Unit Trust. Sir John Beckwith has been involved in property investment and other investmentfor his entire working life. He founded London & Edinburgh Trust PLC ("LET") in1971 where he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and developed it into oneof the top ten listed real estate companies in the UK. Following the sale ofLET, he established Pacific Investments through which he founded a number ofsuccessful asset management businesses, including Liontrust Asset Management andThames River Capital. Alpha Real Capital is the Investment Manager to Alpha Pyrenees. Alpha RealCapital's European Funds Director, Paul Cable, is Fund Manager, Alpha PyreneesTrust. Paul Cable has 25 years experience in the real estate and bankingindustries in the UK, Europe and the Far East and has been responsible for SirJohn Beckwith's property investment activities in France and Spain for the lastsix years. Further information is available at www.alpharealcapital.comincluding contact details for Alpha Real Capital's UK, French and Spanishoffices. ABOUT ALPHA PYRENEES Alpha Pyrenees is a Guernsey registered closed-ended investment companyinvesting in French and Spanish commercial real estate. Investment Strategy Alpha Pyrenees' strategy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of propertiesin Spain and France, focusing on commercial property in the industrial,logistics, office and retail sectors. Alpha Real Capital believes that therewill be capital growth opportunities in the portfolio through income growth,active asset management and yield compression. Directors The Directors of the Company, all of whom are non-executive, are responsible forthe implementation of the investment policy of the Company and the overallsupervision of the Group's activities. The Board consists of: Richard Kingston (Chairman)Christopher BennettDavid JeffreysPhillip RoseSerena Tremlett Richard Kingston is an executive director of Slough Estates Plc, one of thelargest London Stock Exchange listed property companies. He is responsible forGroup Finance at Slough Estate Plc and has been so for nine years, and ischairman of their continental European real estate activities. He was anon-executive director of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and is a qualifiedChartered Accountant. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange