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Blackstone has made a ultimate £489mn bid to amass listed landlord Warehouse Reit, in non-public fairness’s newest swoop on the industrial property sector following a brutal downturn.
The US group, which is the world’s largest industrial property investor, has made 4 earlier provides alongside non-public fairness agency Sixth Road — which had been all rejected by Warehouse Reit.
Sixth Road mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday that it was dropping out of the pursuit of the corporate, which owns warehouses in industrial hubs across the UK. However Blackstone has raised its all-cash provide to amass Warehouse Reit for 115p per share, valuing the corporate at £489mn — up from its £470mn strategy in February.
Warehouse Reit’s board mentioned the February provide “materially undervalues [the company] and its property”.
Blackstone mentioned its ultimate phrases supplied “a extremely deliverable and compelling different to shareholders” — and represented a premium of practically 40 per cent to the share worth on the final day earlier than the takeover course of turned public.
Its raised bid comes as US non-public capital teams have been snapping up portfolios throughout Europe since final autumn, to benefit from what buyers count on to be the underside of the industrial property market.
Actual property values have plunged since 2022, as increased rates of interest hit asset values and hampered funding. European industrial and logistics properties have fallen by roughly a fifth from their peak values, based on analysts at Inexperienced Road.
Listed landlords have additionally been buying and selling at substantial reductions to the worth of their property, with smaller gamers beneath growing stress to promote up or consolidate.
Brookfield in October received a battle to take non-public Tritax EuroBox, and later agreed to promote about 30 per cent of its portfolio of warehouses to rival bidder Segro.
A month earlier than, Blackstone struck a €1bn deal to purchase an 80 per cent stake in a European logistics portfolio from Johannesburg-listed landlord Burstone. In the meantime, US buyers Lone Star and Starwood every purchased a big logistics portfolio within the autumn, from Balanced Industrial Property Belief and family-owned group Charles Road Buildings.
Blackstone final 12 months introduced it was merging its logistics portfolios from two earlier acquisitions — St Modwens and Industrials Reit — into a brand new enterprise known as Indurent, which is now one of many UK’s largest logistics gamers.
Underneath UK takeover guidelines, the US agency has till Monday to make a agency provide for Warehouse Reit.
