Reports are emerging that the board of directors of warehousing property company, Tritax EuroBox plc, has agreed to sell the company to Canadian investor, Brookfield Asset Management Limited. A press release, lodged at the London Stock Exchange on 10th October by Tritax Eurobox, said that Brookfield, using an acquisition vehicle, and Tritax EuroBox had “reached agreement on the terms and conditions of a recommended cash acquisition” by Brookfield. The acquisition is in cash and values the company at £1,102m.
The UK property company, SEGRO, had been competing with Brookfield to purchase Tritax Eurobox, which is a ‘Real Estate Investment Trust’ or REIT. SEGRO came close to succeeding, offering a price of UK£0.651 per share on the 9th October. However, Brookfield responded with an offer of UK£0.69. Both offers assumed all of Tritax EuroBox’s debt.
Although listed on the London Stock Exchange, Tritax EuroBox is largely composed of warehousing assets in continental Europe, that include substantial, modern facilities particularly in Germany and the Netherlands but also in Spain, Italy and Sweden. Clients include the clothing company Mango, the sportswear company Puma and the logistics service provider Rhenus.
Brookfield said that the rationale for making the offer was that “the high-quality portfolio of assets that Tritax EuroBox has assembled fits well with its diverse global logistics portfolio which currently covers over 85 million square feet of space”. Brookfield has an existing business in logistics property into which it intends to merge Tritax EuroBox’s assets. It also intends to facilitate easier and cheaper access to capital to enable the expansion of the property portfolio it is acquiring. The purchase is a further move towards logistics property becoming the province of very large financial investment companies.
Source: Ti Insight
Author: Thomas Cullen
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