GE Real Estate Iberia, the property arm of General Electric in Spain, said on Friday it is pulling out of the bidding for troubled Spanish real estate firm Colonial. In a statement to the Spanish stock market regulator CNMV, GE said that the two companies 'were not able to reach an agreement' on the conditions for due diligence. As a result, Colonial has declined to open its books to the US giant.
GE Real Estate Iberia, the property arm of General Electric in Spain, said on Friday it is pulling out of the bidding for troubled Spanish real estate firm Colonial. In a statement to the Spanish stock market regulator CNMV, GE said that the two companies 'were not able to reach an agreement' on the conditions for due diligence. As a result, Colonial has declined to open its books to the US giant.
GE added that its decision to abandon the bidding is for 'the time being', and it would not influence a possible decision to resume its offer in the future 'alone or with other parties'.
Colonial said on Thursday that it had received a letter of interest from the investment fund of the government of Dubai, Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), regarding the possible acquisition of Juan Carlos Nozaleda's 12% and Luis Manual Portillo's 40% stakes in the troubled property group. The heavily-indebted company said that in the event the deal went ahead, ICD would launch a takeover bid in accordance with Spanish regulations. Colonial added that its board is studying the bid approach.
Colonial has been the focus of takeover speculation after its shares plunged 51% last month in the face of lowering property values and banks' disinclination to lend in the current market crisis. The company had previously confirmed merger talks with French property group Gecina and GE Real Estate.
