Germany’s TLG Immobilien has made a takeover offer for rival property firm WCM.
WCM, whose majority shareholder is DIC Asset, has a portfolio of mainly retail and office assets in Germany.
The Frankfurt-based firm holds 53 assets worth €662m, according to its 2016 annual report.
Rental income from the 324,000sqm portfolio is €38.3m.
TLG said the takeover will boost its holdings to €3bn and create a combined commercial real estate portfolio “centered in and around strong locations with an attractive yield and value growth potential”.
The move for WCM, it said, will create a pan-German platform. More than 75% of the portfolio will be in Berlin, Frankfurt/Main, Dresden, Leipzig and Rostock.
Niclas Karoff, management board member of TLG, said the takeover “is a great opportunity” to strengthen the firm’s existing portfolio in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and Frankfurt/Main, as well as other west German economic growth hubs around Stuttgart, Hannover and Duesseldorf.
As well as DIC Asset, other major shareholders of WCM include board member Karl Ehlerding and chief executive Stavros Efremidis.
Efremidis said: “We are convinced that the proposed combination with TLG represents a very attractive offer to our shareholders – the more so as the combined entities of WCM and TLG will benefit from additional potential of an enlarged group to exploit the growth opportunities in the German commercial real estate market.”
Berlin-based TLG was sold by the German government to private equity firm Lone Star for €1.1bn in 2012. The company was then listed in 2014.
