Spanish listed property firm Colonial has acquired an additional 22% stake in its French subsidiary SFL from the Qatari sovereign wealth fund QIA, taking its controlling stake in the Paris-based office firm to 81%.
The transaction, valued at roughly €718 mln, is to be carried out through the contribution by QIA of its entire 22% stake in SFL to Colonial and through the execution by Colonial of a non-cash capital increase, to be fully underwritten by QIA, as well as via a cash payment to be made by Colonial to QIA, representing roughly a quarter of the total amount.
In a statement, the Spanish landlord said that the acquisition is being made at 'very attractive terms' with an average acquisition price of €69.6 per share, reflecting a 19% discount on SFL's last reported NAV of €85.7 per share.
Following closing, SFL will be 81% owned by Colonial, with Credit Agricole holding another 13%. QIA on the other hand will double its shareholding in Colonial from 10% at present to around 20%.
Colonial said that the deal allows it to take 'a significant step forward in the simplification of the group shareholder structure, focussed on prime offices with an asset value in excess of €11 bn'.
'This transaction has two important angles: on the one hand, it simplifies the shareholding structure of the group, which makes a lot of strategic sense; on the other, the terms of the operation are very accretive for Colonial, whose fundamentals improve significantly,' commented Colonial's CEO Pere Viñolas.
The operation will result in a 4% increase in Colonial's net asset value per share as well as a 10% increase of its recurring earnings per share, the company said.