Another massive industrial REIT merger is on the table, two logistics heavyweights have announced.
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French industrial landlord Argan and Belgian firm Warehouses De Pauw are planning to band together, creating a mammoth, pan-European logistics firm worth €13B ($14.8B), the companies announced Thursday.
“For more than 25 years, each of us has built a market-leading platform,” Argan founder Jean-Claude Le Lan and WDP CEO Joost Uwents said in a joint statement. “This industrial project takes both stories to European scale: one integrated platform, stronger for clients and shareholders alike.”
The all-stock merger, which has been approved by both companies’ boards but is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, will create an eight-country platform. Argan’s portfolio spans roughly 3.9M SF across 110 warehouses in France, while WDP owns around 8M SF.
Long-term Argan shareholder Predica, a Crédit Agricole Assurances subsidiary, has already confirmed its support of the merger and plans to back the deal at the shareholder meeting, according to a release.
Argan shareholders will receive three WDP shares for each Argan share they have, valuing the company at €79.22 ($90.16) per share.
WDP and Argan expect the deal to allow for debt optimization and increased operating efficiencies, creating €10M ($11.3M) of synergies within 12 months.
Argan shares have gained 14% year-to-date and were up 14% at $85 (€74.70) in early European trading Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. WDP’s have grown by 1.8% since the start of the year but were down 1.1% at $25.61 (€22.50) early Friday.
The deal, first reported by the WSJ, is expected to be completed early next year.
The Argan-WDP merger announcement came the day after U.K.-based logistics giant Segro accepted the fourth and final takeover offer made by San Francisco-based Prologis, the world's largest industrial real estate company.
Prologis upped its offer by $500M Wednesday, proposing to buy Segro for $18.7B (£14B). The deal would be one of the largest-ever mergers of industrial REITs and is 14% above Segro’s estimated net asset value from the end of June.
Also this week, Brookfield and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board struck a $5.2B deal to take South Florida-based LXP Industrial Trust private.
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