11 - 17 May 2000

Plaza public share issue to be followed by company expansion

by Anthony Manduca

The Plaza Centres plc public share issue, to be announced today, will help the company expand into other similar projects, according to Joseph Gasan, the chairman of the Plaza's executive committe. The Plaza, Malta's leading shopping centre which also includes offices, was officially opened in 1993.

Interviewed by The Malta Business Weekly, Mr Gasan said that the developers of the Plaza believe that their job has been done. He said: "We have developed the Plaza well, we manage it well, we have a good management team, we developed the second phase of complex, and now we want to consolidate the company situation and look to the future. "When we look to the future, we will be looking at other projects of a similar nature, taking advantage of our experience at the Plaza, which will have shopping at its core and could include entertainment-type operations."

He added: "We wanted to go public because many of us believe that when a company can go public, like this company, then it should do just that. We have a good track record, it is showing a good return, we have agreements going forward another 16 years and clear rent increments every year."

Mr Gasan said that by going public the Plaza will achieve two main things. It will first of all pay off the bank and complete the Plaza project and secondly it will look to other investments.

Mr Gasan also revealed that there were to be some changes in shareholding. HSBC Bank, which holds just over eight per cent of the equity, is selling out because it is not their policy to invest in such operations. Two of the larger shareholders, CAM and the Gasan Group, are selling some of their shares to reduce their shareholding to come in line with the other shareholders, but will still maintain a substantial investment in the company.

He said: "So we are going public not because we need the money. We shall get rid of our overdraft, the job has been done, we are profitable and can pay dividends; so let's go public. When this happens we will be looking at a number of other projects."

Mr Gasan said the Plaza was interested in managing, developing and/or owning similar shopping centres. "These may not necessarily consist of only shops; these may include entertainment centres," he said. He said that the Plaza shareholders were very pleased with the performance of the company so far and that they believed the response to the share issue will be very good "because there is a lot of money around but not enough investment opportunities".