Investor-developer Immofinanz has rejected a takeover bid by S Immo as 'too low', almost a month after the firm's Austrian peer launched an offer for the company.
Merger discussions between Immofinanz, S Immo and CPI Property Group took another turn in early December, when CPI launched an Immofinanz takeover bid priced at €21.20 per share, which was then countered by a S Immo bid of €23 per share.
However, the executive board and supervisory board of Immofinanz have now announced that they consider the S Immo bid to be 'too low'. In a statement, the boards said that the price offered 'does not reflect the current value of the company, the clearly positive development of business in 2021 despite the corona pandemic, and the attractive future growth potential'.
Executive board members Dietmar Reindl and Stefan Schönauer said: 'Immofinanz’s excellent performance, our high-quality portfolio and the pioneering role in combating climate change are further proof that we took the right steps during the crisis and have a strong position for the future.
'We will continue to pursue our growth strategy and, in this way, create value for all our stakeholders. Consequently, we recommend that our shareholders not accept the offer from S Immo because the specified price does not reflect the value of the company. Let us design the future of our company together and realise the great potential inherent in Immofinanz.'
CPI is currently the largest shareholder in Immofinanz with a stake of about 21.4%, after inking recent deals with the market and minority shareholder Mountfort Investments.
CPI announced it had also reached a deal with RPPK Immo for its 10.6% stake in Immofinanz, conditional on receipt of antitrust approvals. RPPK is controlled by Peter Korbacka's Eurovea. This deal would bring CPI's stake to around 32%.
S-Immo, meanwhile, owns a 14.2% share in Immofinanz, while Immofinanz owns 26.5% of S-Immo, making it the largest shareholder in its smaller peer.
To date, Immofinanz and S-Immo had failed to agree terms for a full merger, prompting CPI to attempt its latest Immofinanz bid and buy a 10.8% share in S-Immo, adding to its current 11.6% stake in the latter firm.
However, Immofinanz has now declared that the latest bids are substantially lower than its current EPRA NTA per share of €30.77, with the S Immo offer representing a discount of around 25%.
The offer price is also ubstantially lower than the price of the Immofinanz share before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic (€27 in February 2020) as well as the analysts’ average target price of €24.50.
'The offer price for the approximately 25% shareholding targeted by S Immo is clearly lower than the premium paid for comparative transactions in the European real estate sector,' commented Reindl and Schönauer.
