The deadline for Brookfield Asset Management to make a formal offer for the European real estate investment trust (REIT) Tritax Eurobox has been extended, as more companies were revealed to have expressed an interest in the trust.
The struggling FTSE 250 member, which before Brookfield’s interest became public was trading at a hefty 34 per cent discount on its underlying assets, was the subject of a bid from Canadian private equity behemoth Brookfield in early June.
Now, Tritax and Brookfield have been granted an extension to July 29 as the two firms attempt to negotiate an offer that both parties can accept.
Tritax also confirmed that, since announcing Brookfield’s offer, it is also now “in discussions with a number of parties from whom it has received or solicited expressions of interest”.
Any successful bid would mean yet another firm leaving the London Stock Exchange to go into private equity ownership. Already this year over 25 FTSE 350 companies have departed – or are likely to depart – the London bourse due their stubbornly low public valuations,
Tritax Eurobox specialises in managing and investing in logistics-oriented real estate – also known as “big box” properties – which have become especially popular REITs since the pandemic.
Shares in the fund peaked at 124 in August 2021 – three years after its 2018 IPO – but had collapsed to just 53p before Brookfield’s interest became public.
The collapse prompted the trust’s chair, Robert Orr, to hint in the firm’s latest trading update that it was open to an approach.
In his opening statement, Orr wrote that the board and its advisers were keen to “deliver value for all shareholders in an effective and efficient manner.”
Since making its intentions public, Brookfield, which itself is chaired by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, has tabled a series of indicative proposals, none of which were acceptable to the Tritax Eurobox board, the trust said.
It added that there can be no guarantee that a firm offer will be made by Brookfield or any other interest party before the new deadline.