In May 2024, we launched a fully underwritten £350 million rights issue to allow us to seize the significant opportunity we saw emerging in central London commercial real estate.
The uncertain macro-economic backdrop, combined with increased interest rates across the globe, resulted in commercial buildings in London trading at values we had last seen in 2009 in real terms. Together with this value correction, the investment market had become more favourable for buyers and we had built a significant pipeline of potential acquisition opportunities, which we believed we could acquire at or below replacement cost, with strong prospective returns.
Furthermore, given attractive pricing, in September 2024 we issued our first sterling unsecured sustainable bond to fund the development of our best-in-class schemes and form part of our pathway to becoming net zero by 2040.
Since raising the funds, we have deployed £162 million (£325 million including capital expenditure) of the capital we raised in the rights issue into new West End acquisitions. This has included the acquisition of The Courtyard, 19/23 Wells Street, Whittington House, and most recently One Chapel Place. Furthermore, we have also committed to the refurbishment of The Courtyard, which is forecast to complete in spring 2027.
In total, we now have allocated 97% all of the rights issue proceeds, well ahead of the 12 to 18 month window we anticipated at the outset, and have added exciting new projects to both our Fully Managed offer and our development pipeline that we fully expect to enhance returns over the coming years.