Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
Warburg Pincus has entered a bidding contest for Australia’s largest self-storage operator with an offer to buy National Storage REIT (NSR) for A$1.73 billion ($1.2 billion), according to a disclosure by the real estate investment trust.
The board of the ASX-listed vehicle, which owns and operates 168 storage facilities across Australia and New Zealand, said in its filing to the stock exchange that the New York-based private equity firm had confidentially made an unsolicited, non-binding offer for the REIT equivalent to A$2.20 per stapled security.
Warburg Pincus is joining the bidding war three weeks after National Storage’s board confirmed that Gaw Capital Partners had offered to buy out the trust for an identical A$2.20 per stapled security.
In this latest statement, the storage REIT’s board confirmed that it is continuing to discuss that earlier proposal with the Hong Kong-based fund manager, which is similarly conducting non-exclusive due diligence.
The bid by Goodwin Gaw and his team at Gaw Capital Partners came just a month after the Hong Kong heavyweight closed on $2.2 billion in equity for its Gateway Real Estate Fund VI, with investors kicking in another $800 million in sidecar commitments.
In its announcement today, the Aussie REIT’s board said that it is discussing all three proposals with the relevant parties, while cautioning that discussions are at a preliminary stage with no certainty that they will lead to a final recommended offer.
“The board of NSR is committed to acting in the best interests of, and maximising value for, NSR securityholders,” the board of the REIT noted.
Ref: Property Report
