French listed property firm Covivio said on Friday that it has tendered around 86% of the shares in Godewind, a German listed office property landlord with a portfolio valued at €1.2 bn.
Covivio announced plans to launch a voluntary takeover offer for the German company back in February, with the bid closing on 7 May. As a result, Godewind has now changed its name to Covivio Office and will be led going forward by Covivio’s co-CEOs, Marcus Bartenstein and Daniel Frey.
Covivio, a major office owner in France and Italy, paid €6.40 in cash per Godewind share, representing a 14.9% premium to the firm's last closing price of €5.57 before the offer announcement, or 18.5% to the last reported EPRA NAV of €5.40.
Godewind, which has now been delisted, is the owner of a €1.2 bn portfolio consisting of 10 assets or a total of 290,000 m2 in Frankfurt (40% of the portfolio), Düsseldorf (28%), Hamburg (24%) and Munich (8%).
Operating in Germany since 2005 with a local team of 570 people, Covivio has been historically active in the country in the residential and hotel sectors. It started investing in German offices in 2018, with a focus on Berlin. The deal has lifted the company's German portfolio to €2.1 bn, including a €600 mln development pipeline.
Covivio plans to actively manage the Godewind assets thanks to its local asset management team, with a focus on reducing vacancy rate and increasing rents. The company said that it expects an investment yield of 4.7% from the deal after reducing the portfolio's current vacancy rate of 8% (immediate gross yield of 4.3%). The deal will be financed with a mix of equity and existing debt, the company added.
