French mutual insurer SMABTP has sold a 38% interest in Société de la Tour Eiffel, the company that manages the Eiffel Tower, to allow the Paris-based office landlord to retain its tax-efficient REIT status.
French mutual insurer SMABTP has sold a 38% interest in Société de la Tour Eiffel, the company that manages the Eiffel Tower, to allow the Paris-based office landlord to retain its tax-efficient REIT status.
SMABTP, which in late 2014 bought a nearly 90% interest in STE after a year-long battle for control with French-Vietnamese investor Chuc Hoang, had to reduce its shareholding to less than 60% to comply with a limit for French real estate investment trusts.
The shares were acquired by insurers Suravenir, Malakoff Médéric, La Mutuelle Générale and Humanis for €140 mln, or a price of €58 a share, identical to that paid by SMABTP in last year's takeover.
Following the deal, Malakoff Médéric owns 16.30% while Suravenir, part of cooperative banking and insurance group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, holds 13.57%. La Mutuelle Générale and Humanis each have 4.09%.
'The interest shown by these new investors confirms the relevance of the strategy that we are implementing and demonstrates their confidence in the teams put in place since the takeover of STE by the SMA group in 2014,' commented SMABTP's chairman Hubert Rodarie.
Philippe Lemoine, the newly-appointed CEO of STE, added: 'The confirmation of our SIIC status, the widening of our shareholder base and the provision of additional resources mean that the company is in a good position to carry out its ambitious development plans.'
STE has been growingly strongly since the takeover by SMABTP, in line with the new shareholder's strategy to double the company's portfolio in the next three to five years. Earlier in April, the company bought Le Berlioz office building in Guyancourt while in March it acquired le Vaubain in Velizy for €27.4 mln.
