Netherlands-listed property company Vastned Retail has announced the signing of an exclusivity agreement with IEF Capital regarding its indicative bid. The six-week exclusivity period began Monday 28 April. IEF Capital, a joint venture of Bouwfonds Asset Management and Inflation Exchange Fund (IEF), had attempted a hostile takeover of Vastned at the end of 2007 but its EUR 1.15bn bid was rejected as too low.
Netherlands-listed property company Vastned Retail has announced the signing of an exclusivity agreement with IEF Capital regarding its indicative bid. The six-week exclusivity period began Monday 28 April. IEF Capital, a joint venture of Bouwfonds Asset Management and Inflation Exchange Fund (IEF), had attempted a hostile takeover of Vastned at the end of 2007 but its EUR 1.15bn bid was rejected as too low.
Following the unsuccessful bid, Vastned entered talks with other parties interested in purchasing its EUR 2bn European retail property portfolio, but suspended negotiations at the beginning of April. The majority of Vastned's portfolio is located in the Netherlands (35%), Spain (27%), France (22%) and Belgium (14%), with additional small holdings in Turkey (1%) and Portugal (1%).
The exclusivity period will also be used to negotiate a merger protocol as well as other factors involved in such a large transaction. The supervisory board has also announced that its vice chairman, Mr. N.J. (Klaas) Westdijk, has been added to the transaction team at the board of management's request. The move is aimed at facilitating the effective operation of the company and its internal communication so as to speed up the negotiating process.
