COUE PARTPAR (Reuters) - An entity controlled by investor Oaktree Capital Management LP [OAKCP.UL] has sold an about 10 percent stake in British property developer Countryside Properties Plc (>> Countryside Properties PLC) via a placing, one of the bookrunners said on Friday.
The bookrunner said 45 million shares, sold through an accelerated bookbuild process, had been priced at 230 pence per share, which represented a discount of about 3.6 percent to Countryside's close on Thursday.
Oaktree entity would have raised roughly 103.5 million from the sale, Reuters calculations showed, and is no longer the majority investor of the London-listed firm.
The placement came a day after Countryside reported first-quarter results, and said outlet growth and net reservation rates had remained strong over the 13 weeks from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016.
Although the UK property market experienced some turbulence after Britons voted on June 23 to leave the European Union, the market has recovered since then.
Following the placing, Oaktree would continue to hold about 207.4 million ordinary shares, or roughly a 46.1 percent stake, in Countryside, the bookrunner said on Friday.
Countryside returned to the London market last February in a listing priced at 225 pence per share, following more than a decade in private hands.
Oaktree bought a controlling stake in the company, which traded as a public company from 1972 to 2005, from Lloyds Banking Group (>> Lloyds Banking Group PLC) in 2013.
Barclays Bank Plc and Numis Securities Ltd were the joint bookrunners and Peel Hunt LLP was the lead manager for the placing.
(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
