GLOBAL - Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG) is one of a number major global investors - also believed to include Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and China Investment Corporation (CIC) - seeking to acquire a A$1.2bn (€846m) industrial portfolio from ING Real Estate Investment Management.
The Dutch pension fund investment manager has joined a consortium, including sovereign wealth funds and led by Goodman Group, to take over the ING Industrial Fund (IIF), which owns more than 60 assets across Australia and Europe.
The move would take the Australian real estate investment trust (REIT) private, paying a cash price for IIF's net tangible asset value, and see Goodman assume the role of fund manager.
The REIT is currently listed on the Australia Securities Exchanges (ASX).
Goodman had earlier announced its interest in becoming the manager of IIF, and it is expected that the company will hold approximately 20% of the vehicle when privatised, with the balance of the required equity being contributed by the other consortium members.
Goodman hopes to complete the deal by early to mid-December and said the vehicle would sit alongside its existing range of non-listed fund products.
The Board of ING Management Limited (IML), the responsible entity for IIF, confirmed it had received a "conditional incomplete offer" from Goodman and said the proposal was highly conditional and subject to a number of factors.
These included Goodman finalising equity funding arrangements with its consortium members, the completion of due diligence, finalising bank funding arrangements, execution of appropriate documentation and approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board of Australia.
IML chairman Kevin McCann said: "The board of IML has not formed a view at this stage as to the merits of the offer.
"There is no guarantee discussions with the Goodman consortium will lead to a formal, binding offer for all of the ordinary units in IIF. Accordingly, unit holders should take no action at this time."
He added: "The board of IML will engage with the Goodman consortium to determine whether a transaction that is in the best interests of IIF unit holders can be developed and ultimately put to unit holders.
"This will require, subject to appropriate confidentiality and standstill arrangements, the provision of due diligence material to the Goodman consortium."
