Private equity firm Blackstone Group has made a 1.21 billion pound ($1.68 billion) buyout proposition for St. Modwen Properties, the companies said on Friday, sending shares in the British Real Estate Developer booming.
The likely offer comes when the house builder and logistics firm, which counts e-commerce players Amazon UK, DHL and Ocado as customers, has seen a development in warehousing demand because of online shopping during the pandemic.
Shares in the London-listed firm moved as much as 20% to 538 pence, barely short of the 542 pence each possible offer. They have acquired about 30% in the previous year.
The non-binding conditional offer, which follows a progression of different proposition by Blackstone, was along with some premium of about 21% to the stock’s last closing price.
St. Modwen said its board would recommend the offer should Blackstone make a firm proposal at that price by the June 4 cutoff date.
The Birmingham-based company builds homes, owns and manages several industrial and logistics assets in Britain and develops sites for house building, business and different ventures.
St. Modwen made a loss of 120.8 million pounds a year ago, hurt basically by site closures during introductory lockdowns in the UK in 2020 in spite of recording profit in the subsequent half.
Deal making has been gathering steam in 2021, with companies, private equity firms and special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs) all peering toward acquisitions this year after the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Blackstone, at present performing due diligence on St. Modwen, has been occupied across the world in the last few months and is as of now in a takeover fight for Australia’s Crown Resorts Ltd.
In February, Blackstone united with previous Gatwick proprietor GIP and Bill Gates investment vehicle to purchase private jet services firm Signature Aviation for $4.73 billion.
