Vastned Retail said on Tuesday that its management board has decided to resume discussions with IEF Capital on the basis of the indicative bid of at least EUR 70 per share, after final dividend for 2007. In a statement, Vastned said that it will be in 'exclusive talks' with IEF Capital.
Vastned Retail said on Tuesday that its management board has decided to resume discussions with IEF Capital on the basis of the indicative bid of at least EUR 70 per share, after final dividend for 2007. In a statement, Vastned said that it will be in 'exclusive talks' with IEF Capital.
Last Friday, Vastned Retail said it had suspended efforts to sell part or all of its EUR 2bn portfolio of European retail property assets. The Netherlands-listed property company said discussions over the last month with a number of third parties had not led to a definitive agreement on a sale of the total portfolio at 'attractive conditions'. However, Vastned Retail indicated it had not abandoned the idea of a sell-off completely.
Late last year, Vastned Retail turned down as too low a hostile EUR 1.15 bn bid from IEF Capital, a joint venture of Bouwfonds Asset Management and Inflation Exchange Fund (IEF). The IEF bid led to Vastned opening its books to other interested parties. Vastned Retail's property portfolio is concentrated in the Netherlands (35%), Spain (27%), France (22%) and Belgium (14%). The company also has smaller holdings in Turkey (1%) and Portugal (1%).
