GPT Group, the Australian REIT, is seeking as much as A$1.7bn ($1.28bn) through a capital raising as it tries to speed up its exit from a joint venture with the collapsed Babcock & Brown.

It is offering to sell every new share at A$0.35 to current shareholders who are fund managers to raise A$1.1 billion, and $120 million in a private placement to institutions, GPT said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. The trust will also seek to raise A$470 million from individual stakeholders, a portion of the rights offer that isn’t underwritten, it said.

bloomberg.com, The Australian