Tritax Big Box to acquire Warehouse REIT for £485.2m

A deal agreed by the boards of the industrial real estate investors is the preferred option for Warehouse REIT shareholders, who had also been considering a £470m bid from Blackstone.

Tritax Big Box has agreed to pay 114.2p for each Warehouse REIT share, amounting to an offer of £485.2m for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the firm.

This offer betters an earlier one by Blackstone that valued the shares at 110.6p each.

Tritax’s acquisition of Warehouse REIT, which counts the 2m sq ft Radway Green in Cheshire among its schemes, would see the value of its portfolio rise to £7.4bn, according to a Stock Exchange notice published this morning.

Aubrey Adams, chair of Tritax Big Box, said: “This transaction delivers value accretion to both [companies] driven by immediate cost synergies, rental reversion, and strong structural drivers supporting valuation and income growth in urban and big box logistics.

The Board of BBOX is delighted to be able to offer Warehouse Shareholders the opportunity to be invested in the upside potential of the UK’s leading listed logistics real estate portfolio, whilst also providing the certainty of a partial cash offer.”

Neil Kirton, chair of Warehouse REIT explained why the firm w had opted to accept the Tritax offer over Blackstone’s.

“The Board is pleased to be recommending the Acquisition, which is not only at a higher level to the previous offer for the Company, but which also provides Warehouse Shareholders with the opportunity to retain both the Warehouse Q4 and Q1 dividends and remain invested in this attractive asset class.

“The strategic rationale for the acquisition is very clear and having engaged closely with the Tritax team, we are confident in their ability to deliver value from this combination and to generate enhanced earnings and dividends for shareholders.”

Citigroup is lead financial adviser to Tritax and Newmark is acting as commercial adviser. CMS is providing legal advice.

At the time of writing Warehouse REIT’s share price was at 113.60p, up more than 6% on yesterday’s close. Tritax Big Box REIT’s share price was 148.4p, down 2%.