Centum Real Estate secures investment commitment from GEM
Kenya-based Centum Real Estate, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centum Investment Company PLC, has signed an agreement with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (GEM), the Luxembourg based private alternative investment group, to provide Centum Real Estate with a share subscription facility of up to KES 17 billion (about $150 million) for a 36-month term following a public listing. The share subscription facility will allow Centum Real Estate to draw down funds by issuing shares of common stock to GEM. Centum Real Estate will control the timing and the maximum size of such drawdowns and has no minimum drawdown obligation.
”Centum Real Estate is excited to welcome a global institutional investor of the calibre of GEM, which has committed to make a very sizable equity investment into the business. It validates the attractiveness of the market opportunity that Centum Real Estate is pursuing in providing housing across sub-Sahara Africa where there is a very significant unmet demand. Centum Real Estate is currently developing over 1,400 homes, many of which have already been completed. Another 3,000+ homes are in the pipeline to be developed in the near term. Additionally, Centum Real Estate holds bulk development rights across its land banks for its future housing development and for sale to other real estate developers,” said the company in a statement.
James Mworia, the managing director of Centum PLC noted, “This commitment by GEM to invest in Centum Real Estate is in line with Centum’s mission to build extraordinary African enterprises and to provide a channel through which investors can access them. We are proud of what we have achieved in building a market leading company that is playing a critical role in providing housing across East Africa and the vision is to scale it up across the continent.”
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