CHIDLOW-BASED property developer Greenedge Projects Pty Ltd is seeking to raise $12 million through an ASX-listing for its sustainable development vehicle, Greenedge Ethical Investments Ltd.
CHIDLOW-BASED property developer Greenedge Projects Pty Ltd is seeking to raise $12 million through an ASX-listing for its sustainable development vehicle, Greenedge Ethical Investments Ltd.
The initial public offering will provide capital for the company's expansion into the eastern states and the purchase of properties in Geraldton and Queensland, with Greenedge providing management services to the listed entity.
Inaugural board member, Curtin University's Professor Peter Newman, unofficially launched the fund last week, with the company expected to lodge its prospectus next Tuesday.
Director Paul Antonelli said the concept for the Chidlow eco-village was developed about three and a half years ago.
"Since then, we've been looking at how we could evolve as a business and at other projects around Australia," he told WA Business News.
GEIL was incorporated as an unlisted public company in August 2006, with the goal to invest in ethical property-related activities.
After the listing, the company will have the option to invest in Greenedge Projects's first development - a 104-lot eco-village in Chidlow - as well as prospective projects in Fremantle and Sydney.
The Chidlow development, called SomerVille, got subdivision approval in June this year, with infrastructure due to commence shortly and plans to build an eco-retirement village nearby.
In addition, GEIL will invest in an existing Queensland-based eco-village, called The Green, and another in Adelaide, which Greenedge Projects had planned to buy into and develop further.
Mr Antonelli, who founded the company with co-director Dominic Carlino, said he had recently canvassed a number of investors in Perth and found the market was a lot more receptive now to the idea of a property development company based on sustainability principles than it had previously been.
"What we found was, a year and a half ago, when everything was going well, it was a different market.
"The sustainability issue was not really on the cards yet," he said.
Mr Antonelli said he expected grass roots support from private investors to provide three-quarters of the capital raising, with institutional investors contributing about $3 million.
Mr Antonelli said the company would continue to use the model it had developed over the past few years, based on research in Australia and overseas, to build both eco-villages and eco-retirement villages.
