REAL ESTATE - Dutch real estate company Homburg has acquired Canadian real estate fund Alexis Nihon after a long-drawn bidding battle with competitor Cominar.

Homburg increased its bid for Alexis Nihon after a friendly take-over bid offer from Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust of C$18.50(€11.97) per share in cash and shares was presented to the Canadian fund.

The Dutch real estate investor presented a binding offer of US$18.60 (€14.2) in cash on all outstanding shares of Alexis Nihon, while already holding 19.5% of the total share capital.

Cominar decided after the Homburg offer not to proceed with a further increased bid. It executives even stated they would not be interested in the five day period in which to present such a bid.

The takeover of Alexis Nihon is estimated to cost Homburg around €328m.

With the acquisition, Homburg has acquired a vast and divers real estate portfolio, largely situated around the city of Montreal.

As reported by Homburg, total financing of the acquisition has already been sourced, coming partly from its own financial reserves, with the rest to be paid by bank loans. Analysts in the Netherlands expect that the company will soon make a share issue to finance the whole transaction and to strengthen its P&L position.

Homburg has also been active on another front by acquiring five office buildings in the Netherlands, with a total value of €24m. The latter acquisition has been financed via a new loan of €19 m, the issue of one million new shares of Homburg Invest at €4.50 per share and some cash.

According to Homburg, the offices are in Roermond, Venlo, Gouda and Eindhoven, with a total area of 17,600m2, and are already rented to large companies.