LONDON DEBUT
Grit fund-raising ‘shows UK investors have a growing interest in Africa property’
Pan-African property fund Grit Real Estate has raised $132m on the eve of its debut on the main market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). This showed that British investors had a growing interest in African real estate, while South African interest has been subdued, Grit CEO Bronwyn Corbett said. Corbett said she had chosen to pursue an LSE listing because she believed it would be easier to raise funds in the UK than in SA in 2018. "Since we started it’s been difficult to attract South African investors. They saw Africa as a risky continent wherein to invest and did not look at African markets individually. "Much of the investment that could have gone to Grit had been spent in other parts of the world, such as eastern Europe," Corbett said. The funds were raised from emerging and frontier markets investors through the placement of 92,373,610 ordinary shares at $1.43 a share. Frontier markets are countries that are too small to be considered as emerging markets or are not as develop...
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