The takeover battle between Propertylink (ASX: PLG) and Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX: CIP) intensified over the past week with the emergence of a third player, ESR Real Estate, making a bid for Propertylink.
ESR has made a non-binding offer of $1.15 per unit to acquire all the stapled securities of Propertylink, causing Propertylink’s share price to rocket up to $1.15 from $1.04 on Friday. ESR (e-Shang Redwood) is an Asian logistics real estate platform, backed by Warburg Pincus, with over US$13 billion in assets under management. ESR already holds a 19.9% stake in Propertylink.
The move came amongst a messy battle whereby Propertylink’s recent takeover offer for Centuria Industrial REIT was countered by Centuria Capital Group (ASX: CNI) requesting a spill of the Propertylink Board. Propertylink also has a script/cash bid for Centuria Industrial REIT priced at 2.5327 shares in PLG plus $0.33 in cash.
Although the ESR offer appears to be the preferred bid, the Boards of Propertylink and Centuria have yet to formally respond to the offers and will need to do so in order for the offers to be put to unitholders to vote.