20 million shares in Malita Investments, the Special Purpose Vehicle which will fund the Valletta City Gate/Parliament project, will go on sale on July 23.

Company chairman Kenneth Farrugia said another 10 million shares will be available in case of over-subscription.

The shares will be offered at 50c each. They will be listed on the stock exchange from August 16.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Farrugia explained that Malita is a fully-owned government entity where the government cannot have less than 70% shareholding.

He said the company's purpose is to acquire and manage a portfolio of immovable assets of strategic national importance, of which the City Gate project is the first.

The company directors are Vincent Mifsud, Frederick Mifsud Bonnici, Danny Rosso and Ann-Marie Tabone.

Mr Farrugia said the government had so far bought 50 million shares through a direct investment of €25 million and 68 million shares in return for the transfer of direct ownership of MIA (valued at €21.5m) and Valletta Cruise Port (€12.5m)

Malita will use its revenue to fund the €82m City Gate project. It will also pay the government a groundrent of €100,000 a year.

The government and Malita have already signed an agreement for the government to lease the Parliament Building for 20 years and the open air theatre (30 years) for a total of €5.2m per annum.

Mr Farrugia said the €82m funding the City Gate project would come from the direct government funding of €25m, a €40m loan which Malita has taken from the European Investment Bank (at interest of between 3.1% and 3.45%), the revenue from the public shares (€9.3m) and from a stand-by facility of €4.56 million from of the banks, as well as the leases from MIA and Valletta Cruise Port.

He said the government has waived its right to a dividend until the end of 2014.

For the private investors, the board’s intention is to give shareholders a gross annual yield of 7 per cent of the issue price.