Hyprop restructures its debts

Hyprop Investments on Tuesday (30 April) announced a favourable restructuring of its debt facilities‚ with the conversion of R648m in conventional bank loans into debt capital market (DCM) funding.

This latest DCM issuance comprises a R450m five-year bond‚ issued at a margin of 145 bps‚ and R198m in three-month commercial paper at a margin of 19 bps. R450m of the R648m is fixed for an average of 4.1 years at an average all-in rate of 7.6%.

Hyprop's financial director Laurence Cohen says: "The restructuring has advantages for Hyprop‚ in that the funding has been secured at attractive rates‚ reducing overall funding costs. In addition‚ the DCM funding is unsecured."

The restructure is part of Hyprop's R5bn DCM programme‚ with the total issue to date amounting to R1.65bn or about 33% of total net borrowings. Net borrowings at the end of December last year were R4.9bn‚ while Hyprop's gearing ratio was 23.1%.

Hyprop has an A3.za/P-2.za national rating from Moody's Investor Services.