The Centuria Capital Group (ASX: CNI) share price is edging lower today, down 1% in afternoon trading. At the time of writing, the Centuria share price was trading at $2.32.
Shares have been lagging the returns from the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) despite the specialist investment manager recently upgrading its earnings guidance to 10.0 cents per share (cps).
According to Centuria, the earnings guidance upgrade was supported by the company's $162 million in equity raising since 3 January. This was for 3 unlisted real estate funds. The 2021 equity raises to date support a total of more than $286 million of industrial and healthcare property.
These funds are not listed on the ASX, with the investment funds managed directly by Centuria.
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What did Centuria report on its real estate fund equity raisings?
Centuria reported that Augusta Capital, its New Zealand platform, raised NZ$109 million (AU$102.5 million). This is for its Augusta Penrose Limited fund. The capital raising was used to settle Centuria's acquisition of the Visy Glass manufacturing facility. Centuria forecasts an initial pre-tax annual cash distribution of 5% from the fund.
So far in 2021 Centuria also raised $40 million for its newly launched Centuria Industrial Income Fund No.1 (CIIF1). That fund encompasses 3 industrial assets in Adelaide and Brisbane.
The third fund to see a major equity inflow since 2 January was the Centuria Healthcare Property Fund (CHPF). The company reported CHPF has raised $20 million in the advance bookbuild. This is prior to the fund opening for applications later this month for the third time.
Jason Huljich, Centuria's Joint CEO commented:
It's exciting to confirm the significant funds we have raised in the eight short weeks of the 2021 calendar year across Australia and New Zealand. These unlisted single asset and multi-asset funds comprise hotly contested assets across the industrial and healthcare sectors.
So what about the office markets?
According to Huljich, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the embattled office sector. He says, "[W]e are still confident and optimistic about the decentralised office markets. With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine now underway, we anticipate white-collar workers across Australia will continue to return to the office."
Centuria share price snapshot
Having yet to fully recover from the pandemic driven market selloff last February and March, Centuria's share remains down 9% over the past year. By comparison, the ASX 200 is up 6% in that same time.
So far in 2021, the Centuria share price is down 10%.
