Warburg Pincus-backed ESR has made a AUD693.2m (€429m) all-cash offer for the listed Australian company, Propertylink.
The pan-Asian logistics group’s Australian arm is offering AUD1.15 per security to take over all securities that it does not already own in Propertylink. The amount being offered is a 9.5% premium to Propertylink’s last closing price.
Propertylink has urged its security holders to “take no action”. It said that there was no guarantee that the proposal or any discussions with ESR would lead to a formal binding offer.
ESR is the single largest shareholder in Propertylink, with a 19.9% stake it acquired in the last 12 months. Propertylink itself is in a AUD755m bid to take over Centuria Industrial REIT (CNI).
Just this week, CNI’s manager and key shareholder, Centuria Capital Group, has called for a board spill at Propertylink to replace most of the directors over the CNI bid.
ESR said a key condition of its offer was that Propertylink did not proceed with its takeover offer for CNI.
“We have asked them not to proceed with the takeover because we do not think it is in the interest of shareholders,” a source close to ESR told IPE Real Assets.
The source said ESR plans to take Propertylink private if the offer is accepted, adding that PropertyLink would become ESR’s Australian platform.
He said ESR had not discussed its bid with Centuria Capital. The Asian logistics group has a 14.9% stake in Centuria Capital, which, in turn, has a 10% stake in Propertylink.
While Propertylink has a growing portfolio of industrial logistics assets, a sizeable part of its AUD1.48bn portfolio is in offices and business parks.
The ESR source said the ESR REIT, listed in Singapore, owns both industrial assets and suburban offices.
Also this week, China Merchant Capital has agreed to take up a majority stake in a AUD$350m wholesale logistics fund to be launched by Propertylink.
The Chinese alternative investment and asset management platform will hold an 80% interest in the Propertylink Australian Logistics Trust II fund, with Propertylink taking up the remaining 20%.
