Capital Markets

Fusion Capital raises Sh800m for delayed Meru shopping mall

fusion

From left: Fusion Capital's director, real estate James MacLean, Group CEO Daniel Kamau, Meru County CEC Trade, Investment, Industrialisation, Tourism and Cooperatives Maingi Mugambi, Fusion Investment Management director Michael Kimondo, during the announcement by the company on the Sh800 million raised for the completion of Greenwood City Mall in Meru County on June 22, 2021. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG

Private equity firm, Fusion Capital, has raised Sh800 million for completion of Greenwood City Mall in Meru.

The private equity firm said the cash was raised from local and international investors in the United Kingdom and Finland.

The project, which is 61 percent complete, consists of a supermarket, restaurant, apartment, shops, banking halls and children arcade.

“This is a follow-on investment from the original investment of about Sh463.5 million ($4.3 million), hence total funding of about Sh1.2 billion ($12 million),” Fusion Capital chief executive officer Daniel Kamau said.

Mr Kamau added that the mall has received 36 percent bookings by leading brands such as Optica, Mimosa Pharmacy, among others.

“The mall comprises 12,000 square metres and has already achieved a 36 percent occupancy by East African leading brands and are looking at achieving full occupancy by the time the mall is ready for trading,” he adds.

The mall, which was to be completed in 2017, was delayed after shareholders dropped an earlier plan to raise funding through Development Real Estate Investment Trust (D-Reit) in favour of cash from private investors.

A D-Reit is a listed collective investment instrument that allows investors to pull capital to develop large-scale real estate properties. “Fusion had previously structured the financing of the mall as a D-Reit, which achieved a 38 percent subscription against the set threshold of 50 percent subscription, but the Shareholders of Meru Greenwood Park dropped the DREIT in favor of private funding for the development.”