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Investa Office gets bid from Blackstone, Westfield gets yes vote

It’s been an active week for transactions with news today that Investa Office Fund (ASX:IOF) has received a takeover offer from Blackstone priced at $5.25 per unit, a 13% premium to the last traded price of $4.63, and valuing IOF at over $3.1 billion. The offer is subject to due diligence and the Directors of the Responsible Entity intending to recommend the proposal in the absence of a superior offer. Blackstone has been actively restructuring its Australian portfolio with recent asset sales during the week including office assets 127 Creek St, Brisbane and 80 Grenfell St, Adelaide SA sold for a combined $314.6M as well as the Top Ryde City shopping centre and 275 Kent St, Sydney also on the market.

The takeover of IOF comes fresh off the heels of Westfield Corporation (ASX: WFD) securityholders overwhelmingly approving the merger of WFD with Unibail-Rodmaco. The proposal now requires a second court hearing approval on 29 May 2018, following which WFD’s last day of ASX trading is set for Thursday 31 May 2018. Securityholders will receive a combination of cash and script (CDIs in the new combined Unibail-Rodmaco entity) as part of the merger.