Yew Grove Reit floats on Dublin and London exchanges

Shares in Yew Grove Reit, the latest real estate investment trust to go public, closed up 7 per cent at €1.07, albeit on extremely small volume, on the Enterprise Securities Market of the Irish Stock Exchange after the first day of trading.

The company, which raised €75 million on its initial public offering (IPO), is first to list in Dublin since Euronext bought the Irish Stock Exchange.

Yew Grove’s IPO was at the bottom end of the €75 million to €100 million range originally targeted by chief executive Jonathan Laredo and his team. He said that the small size of the equity-raise had precluded many typical Reit investors.

In London, where the stock is listed on the AIM market, it closed up 7 per cent at £1.07.

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Dividend

The directors have set a target of a dividend of 7c per share for the company’s first full financial year, in 2019. That equates to a dividend yield of 7 per cent, based on the company’s IPO price of €1 per share.

In a statement, the company welcomed the commencement of trading in its stock.

“We believe Yew Grove Reit is a compelling opportunity for our customers, investors and the sector,” said Mr Laredo.

“We are well positioned to invest in strategic centres throughout Ireland using the funds raised from our listing. We are looking forward to life as a plc and delivering to our shareholders.”

Portfolio

Yew Grove will have an initial portfolio of 10 such properties – mainly office and industrial assets let to State entities, IDA-supported companies and large corporates – that had been assembled by the management team and valued at €25.9 million.

Its portfolio will be located in Dublin City (but not in the central business district), within a 30-minute commute of the M50, in IDA Ireland business and technology parks and in major regional hubs including those identified under Project Ireland 2040.

Yew Grove joins a number of other Reits listed in Ireland. On the benchmark Iseq overall index there are three such vehicles: Ires, Green and Hibernia Reit.