The Board of Directors of Atrium European Real Estate has received a proposal from Gazit Globe Limited to acquire the equity of Atrium that Gazit does not currently own for a consideration of €3.35 per share. An independent committee of the Atrium Board will review and consider the proposal.
The contemplated price constitutes a premium of 14.3% to the last closing price. The transaction would make Atrium a wholly-owned, privately-held subsidiary of Gazit Globe by way of a merger pursuant to The Companies Law (Jersey) and would entail delisting Atrium’s shares. Gazit Globe currently holds approximately 75% of Atrium’s outstanding share capital.
Atrium is a publicly listed company with a portfolio of high-quality assets, the majority of which are located in Warsaw and Prague. Over the last year and a half, Atrium entered the residential for rent property sector and recently reported that it has a pipeline of over 4,000 residential units in major cities in Poland in various phases of investment and development. This figure includes 2,000 apartments planned for development above or adjacent to existing Atrium assets, and an additional 2,000 apartments through prospective acquisitions of existing properties or properties currently being built.
Chaim Katzman, Founder and CEO of Gazit Globe says: "The contemplated merger will bring Gazit closer to Atrium’s assets and will enhance the operational flexibility within the Group with regards to real estate operations, construction and development of existing properties, and cash flow and financing of assets. We believe that once Atrium becomes a privately-held company owned by Gazit we will be able to generate value through synergies both operationally and in terms of financing and the capital markets. The unification of the Group’s assets under a “single roof” will enable us to create a streamlined international brand and even further strengthen our ties with major international brands and tenants. Over 60% of Atrium's properties are located in densely populated city centres with attractive growth rates, and we believe that we will be able to further implement our strategy of “densifying” existing assets and generating additional development rights for mixed-use. We intend to continue to execute upon Atrium’s asset recycling plan focused on improving the overall quality of the asset portfolio, building on the successful implementation of that plan that Atrium has achieved over the last number of years, while also aiming to increase the pace of non-core asset sales, which will reduce leverage and help us to reach our leverage objectives.”
Gazit Globe is a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, development, and management of mixed-use income-producing real estate for a variety of uses including commercial, offices and residential in highly populated urban areas in key cities. As of March 31, 2021, the Group held and managed 102 properties covering a built-up area for lease of 2.5 million sq. m with a value of NIS 37 billion.
