Henderson Park in pole position to acquire Green REIT

In a statement made by Green REIT's board, the firm said that it had 'assessed the bids received as part of the sales process in detail' and was talking to Henderson Park 'about a possible offer'.

Dublin-listed commercial property investor Green REIT unveiled plans to initiate the sale of the company or divest its entire portfolio earlier this year, as a result of the disappointing performance of its share price.

In a statement, the firm said that the decision was taken due to the persisting 'structural discount in the company’s share price relative to its net asset value per share'.

Green REIT said at the time that it was still convinced of 'the value of the company’s assets, its management and its business plan, as well as in the Irish commercial real estate sector' but said that this was the best way to maximise value for its shareholders.

Analyst Goodbody agreed, saying it expected 'strong demand to be realised for the unique offering that is the Green portfolio', despite 'the stubbornly high discounts that Irish office REITs have been trading at in the last six months...at times making them the cheapest office REITs in Europe'.

Strong portfolio
Green has built a prime portfolio of mostly Dublin office and logistics assets (95% of which is in Dublin), with a portfolio value of €1.48 bn, and a contracted rent roll of €75.5 mln.

Offices make up 88% of the portfolio value at €1.3 bn, logistics make up 7% with a value at 31 December 2018 of €103.6 mln, while mixed-use and a small amount of retail make up the remaining 5% with €63.7 mln of portfolio value.

Significant development opportunity remains within the portfolio, with a particularly attractive 310-acre logistics park at Horizon, located just beside Dublin Airport, according to Goodbody.

JP Morgan Cazenove is lead financial adviser for Green REIT, while CBRE is property advisor, Davy is joint financial adviser and corporate broker, and Arthur Cox is the company’s legal advisor.