Brookfield overtakes Segro with £1.1bn takeover bid for Tritax EuroBox

Tritax EuroBox has accepted a new acquisition proposal from Canada’s Brookfield, beating a previous offer from London-listed Segro.

It sets the stage for a potential bidding war over a real estate portfolio, including highly sought-after warehouse and distribution center assets.

The property investment trust said it had accepted a £1.1bn deal from Titanium Ruth, a company indirectly owned by the Canadian investment giant.

This new approach values ​​each Tritax EuroBox share at 69 pence, a 6 per cent increase on the 65.1 pence per share proposal agreed with Segro last month and a 28 per cent premium to its share price. on May 31, before the offer period began.

Brookfield believes the acquisition “fits well with its diverse global logistics portfolio,” which currently spans 85 million square feet of space.

He also said taking Tritax private would “better position” the FTSE 250 business for additional investment in existing assets.

Since listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, Tritax has been hampered by its shares trading at a persistent discount to their net asset value, a familiar problem for UK-listed trusts aiming to illiquid assets such as property.

The company’s operations enjoyed a significant increase during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the increasing growth of online commerce boosted demand for warehouses.

However, the value of its assets has declined over the past two years amid rising interest rates and easing lockdown restrictions, prompting people to return to shopping in stores.

Robert Orr, chairman of Tritax EuroBox, said the group’s shareholders “will benefit from a significant increase on the intact value of their investment with flexibility to reinvest as they see fit.”

Headquartered in London’s Old Bond Street, Tritax is a specialist investor in logistics and distribution centers across continental Europe.

It has 1.5 million square meters of space with a total value of around €1.5 billion in countries such as Germany, Italy and Sweden, and counts among its clients retail giants Amazon and Wayfair, as well as device maker Abbott Laboratories doctors.

Brad Hyler, head of European real estate at Brookfield, said: ‘Tritax EuroBox has a portfolio of high-quality logistics assets in strategic locations across Europe.

“These assets are complementary to our existing portfolio and, using our global real estate expertise, we will actively manage them, provide access to capital, help build new relationships with our tenant network and support the overall growth of the platform.”

Brookfield, whose chairman is former Bank of England chief Mark Carney, first revealed it was considering a bid for Tritax in May.

The Toronto-based company owns a 50 per cent stake in Canary Wharf Group, along with the Qatar Investment Authority, and owns Center Parcs in the UK and Ireland, payments company Network International and Homeserve property repair services.

Tritax EuroBox Shares They were down 0.6 per cent at 152.1 pence on Thursday morning.