Quadrant sells down Summerset stake at $2.90 a share

Quadrant sells down Summerset stake at $2.90 a share, raising $89 mln

May 17 (BusinessDesk) - Summerset Group shareholder Quadrant Private Equity sold down its stake in the retirement village operator at $2.90 a share, raising some $89 million, and taking advantage of the stock’s 34 percent advance this year.

QPE Funds Management, the Quadrant unit that holds the shares, has entered into an agreement with First NZ Capital to sell 30.7 million shares, or 14 percent, of Summerset to Australian and New Zealand investors, Summerset chairman Rob Campbell said in a statement. Quadrant will keep 49.1 million shares, or about 23 percent.

“The sale has been supported strongly by existing and new shareholders,” Campbell said. “Particularly pleasing is the support from a range of Australian institutional investors.”

The sale was at a 3.3 percent discount to Summerset’s last trading price before being halted of $3. The shares have since dipped to $2.98. The stock has soared along with those of peers Ryman Healthcare and Metlifecare as investors are drawn to a sector with good growth prospects as the population ages.

Quadrant floated Summerset on the NZX in 2011, raising $123.6 million, made up of a partial sell-down and a primary capital raising of $50 million. The Australian private equity firm completed its full takeover of Summerset in 2010, buying the 50 percent it didn’t own from fund manager AMP Capital Investors New Zealand.

An escrow period, preventing Quadrant from selling, ended in February, and it sold 40 million shares at $2.42 apiece in March. Last month, Quadrant managing director Chris Hadley said his buyout firm would reduce its holding in Summerset in a "very sensible fashion."

(BusinessDesk)

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