Spain's Inmobiliaria Colonial has announced plans to submit a voluntary takeover offer to buy up to 100% of its French subsidiary Societe Fonciere Lyonnaise (SFL) in a deal valued at just over €800 mln.
With the deal, which is set to close by August, Colonial aims to increase its exposure to prime Paris real estate at a discount to market prices, while simplifying its corporate structure, the company said.
Juan José Brugera, President of Colonial said, ‘This transaction allows Colonial to increase its presence in the Paris market, the largest office market in the Eurozone. It reinforces our bet for prime assets, offering the best return for our shareholders while strengthening our platform for further growth in Europe.’
In the first stage of the two-step deal, Colonial will buy the 13% stake in SFL held by Credit Agricole's Predica subsidiary for €592 mln euros.
It will then launch a voluntary mixed tender offer for the remaining 5% equity not held by Predica or Colonial, which is valued at €214 mln.
As part of the deal, SFL will also take control of Predica’s interest in roughly €1 bn of assets in Paris, namely Washington Plaza, 106 Haussmann, Galerie des Champs-Elysées and 90 Champs-Elysées3, in exchange for minority stakes in the assets #cloud.paris, Cézanne Saint-Honoré, 92 Champs-Elysées and 103 Grenelle. Goind forward, these properties will be 51% owned by SFL and 49% by Predica.
‘The transaction would simplify the shareholding structure of the Company, by offering liquidity to minority shareholders and the possibility to become shareholders of Inmobiliaria Colonial, by tendering their SFL shares with a significant premium to the stock-market price,’ SFL said.
The transaction is expected to be fully executed by September 2021.
