Tritax Big Box Agrees to Take Over UK Commercial Property REIT in $1.2 Bln Deal

By Joe Hoppe

Tritax Big Box said it has reached an agreement to take over UK Commercial Property REIT in an all-share offer, valuing the company at around 924 million pounds ($1.17 billion).
The commercial-property investor said UK Commercial Property investors will receive 0.444 new ordinary Tritax shares per UK Commercial Property–or UKCM–share held, and the possible offer would lead to UKCM’s stakeholders owning around 23.3% of the enlarged company.

Based on Tritax’s share price of 160.2 pence on Friday, the possible offer implies a value of 71.1 pence a UKCM share, a premium of 11% to its closing price of 64.2 pence on Friday.
Tritax said the offer follows a series of proposals and a period of negotiation, and UKCM’s board intends to recommend the current deal should a firm offer be made. Tritax has received non-binding letters of intent from existing shareholders worth 56.5% of UKCM’s share capital to vote in favor of a deal.
Tritax said the boards of both companies believe the potential offer has a strong strategic and financial rationale–establishing a GBP6.3 billion portfolio focused on U.K. logistics assets, bringing additional scope for asset management and capital recycling and forming the fourth largest U.K. real estate investment trust by market capitalization, among others benefits.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com