sofibus: SEGRO to acquire controlling interest in Sofibis Patrimoine

SEGRO to acquire controlling interest in Sofibis Patrimoine Submitted 15/12/2020 - 9:19am SEGRO has agreed to acquire a further 74.9 per cent of the share capital of Sofibus Patrimoine (Sofibus) for EUR313.71 per share. Following its acquisition of a 19.5 per cent interest in 2018, and upon completion of the transaction, SEGRO will own 94.4 per cent of Sofibus. SEGRO will file a simplified mandatory tender offer for the Sofibus shares not owned by SEGRO, at the same price of EUR313.71 per share, and intends to implement a squeeze-out procedure in order to delist the Company from Euronext Paris. As a result, SEGRO will secure majority ownership and control of Sofibus's property portfolio, allowing SEGRO to increase its presence in the Paris urban warehouse market significantly. SEGRO has agreed to acquire the 74.9 per cent stake through separate transactions with the controlling shareholders of Sofibus, owning 56.3 per cent of the share capital, and with several minority shareholders, owning in aggregate 18.6 per cent of the share capital. All these transactions have been agreed at the same acquisition price of EUR313.71 per share, equating to a value of EUR178.6 million. This values 100 per cent of the equity of Sofibus at EUR238.5 million and reflects a premium of 46.6 per cent compared with the last closing price before this announcement (11 December 2020), of 61.5 per cent compared with the volume-weighted average price over the last month and of 67.5 per cent compared with the volume-weighted average price over the last three months. Sofibus's main asset is Parc d'Activités des Petits Carreaux (PAPC), a 149,900 sq m urban warehouse park in Bonneuil-sur-Marne, an established commercial area in close proximity to central Paris. The portfolio also includes 17 hectares of adjacent development land and an office building in Central Paris. Within the Income Statement for the financial year ended 31 December 2019, the Company reported passing rent of EUR12.6 million and EBITDA of EUR9.7 million. David Sleath, Chief Executive of SEGRO, says: "This is a rare opportunity to significantly increase our exposure to urban warehousing in Paris which has long been a core market for SEGRO. We have got to know Sofibus well as a shareholder and member of the Board of Directors over the past two years and look forward to the next stage of growth for the Parc d'Activités des Petits Carreaux. "Our local team has intimate knowledge of the Paris warehouse market and will deploy its expertise to add value by actively managing Sofibus's existing assets and by developing new, state of the art warehousing on the adjacent plots of land to satisfy growing occupier demand." Tags Deals & Transactions Lettings & Sales