Workspace in £200m private placement to fund investment plans

Workspace has priced a £200m private placement made up of £80m eight-year notes and £120m 10-year notes to fund the group's investment plans.

The notes will be placed with eight UK and US institutional investors, including four new lenders to Workspace, and they will have the same financial covenants as its other debt facilities.

The private placement together with the additional £100m five-year revolver facility provided by its bank lending syndicate in June will increase Workspace's debt facilities to £665m.

On a pro-forma basis, based on the drawn debt at 30 June 2017, the group's weighted average interest rate following completion of the placement would be approximately 4.3%, with £229m of cash and undrawn facilities at a marginal interest rate of 1.8%.

Chief financial officer Graham Clemett said: "We are delighted with investor appetite for this private placement issue, a strong endorsement of the group's business strategy and investment plans. The new notes will enable us to capitalise on current low interest rates, secure longer term funding for the group at a low cost, and put us in a strong liquidity position."

At 0905 BST, the shares were down 1.1% to 917.50p.