A consortium comprising Oaktree Capital Management and CURA Vermögensverwaltung has offered to buy listed German shopping mall investor Deutsche EuroShop for €1.4bn.
Funds managed by Oaktree and CURA are offering Deutsche EuroShop shareholders €22.50 for each share held, a price that represents a 44% premium to the share’s last closing price of €15.63 on 20 May.
CURA, the family office of the Otto family and parent company of ECE, holds approximately 20% of Deutsche EuroShop’s share capital.
Deutsche EuroShop owns a portfolio of 21 centres in locations across Germany and selected cities in Central and Eastern Europe.
Ben Bianchi, managing director and head of European real estate at Oaktree Capital Management, said: “Deutsche EuroShop has a top-quality portfolio that we believe is underappreciated by the capital markets following a multi-year sell-off of the entire retail sector.
“In partnering with CURA and ECE, we believe we have the real estate expertise and financial resources to support the company in an increasingly competitive and evolving retail environment.”
Volker Kraft, managing partner of ECE Real Estate Partners, the investment advisor to the consortium, said: “The ongoing headwinds that the retail sector has had to face have recently prevented the company from fully realising the potential of its otherwise successful and conservative strategy.
“We have a long term perspective and the strength to jointly offer continued support for the company on its journey ahead.”
In early afternoon trading, Deutsche EuroShop shares traded up 40.5% at €21.90 each, valuing the company at €1.35bn.
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