In the past week PLG acquired a 12.3% stake in CIP at $2.99 per unit, before launching a takeover offer for CIP pitched at around $3.04 per unit, valuing CIP at $755M.
The offer comes amidst a cat and mouse game between Propertylink and Centuria. A year ago, in September 2017, Centuria acquired a stake in Propertylink and made a takeover offer which was rejected by Propertylink’s Board. Uncertainty has prevailed over the past year, with Centuria recently reducing its stake in Propertylink. Last week’s surprise announcement now places Propertylink as the acquirer, rather than the target, in the potential takeover.
Centuria’s Board have yet to formally respond to the offer, which is priced at 2.5327 shares in PLG plus $0.33 in cash, and it will be interesting to see how the transaction pans out in the current climate.
An equally complicated situation has evolved in the bid for Investa Office Fund (ASX: IOF) with IOF’s Board announcing a further adjournment in its shareholder meeting as it contends to rival offers. Canada’s Oxford Properties group has increased its price to $5.60 per unit, above Blackstone’s offer of $5.52 per unit. Although Oxford’s offer is conditional on due diligence, Oxford appears to have locked in support for nearly 20% of the units, which places pressure back on Blackstone. We expect the rival bidding to be coming close to an end, however it still remains open who will win final control of IOF.
In contrast, Charter Hall Group’s (ASX: CHC) offer for fund manager Folkestone Limited (ASX: FLK) appears to be going smoothly with a meeting set down for 17 October 2018 for unitholders to vote on the takeover.