FRANKFURT--German real-estate business Deutsche Wohnen AG said
that its bid to take over Austrian rival Conwert Immobilien Invest
SE has collapsed after it failed to reach the minimum acceptance
threshold.
The company had offered Conwert shareholders EUR11.50 a share in
cash, worth over EUR980 million ($1.05 billion) at the time.
However, it failed to attract the minimum acceptance of 50% plus
one share, despite support from two major Conwert shareholders.
"Given that the minimum acceptance threshold regarding the
takeover offer for Conwert shares has not been reached, the offers
for Conwert's convertible bonds as well as the anticipatory
mandatory offer for the relevant shares of ECO Business-Immobilien
AG are no longer effective," the company said.
Deutsche Wohnen was mainly interested in Conwert's residential
portfolio in Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Vienna and Leipzig, which is
also the German firm's core portfolio region. The takeover would
have fitted its strategy to further diversify its portfolio.
Conwert Immobilien said the offer failed to attract enough
shareholders even though the German firm had managed to secure
acceptance pledges for major share packages should the offer have
succeeded.
Conwert's largest shareholder, the Haselsteiner
Familien-Privatstiftung, and another major investor, Karl Ehlerding
and his family, had endorsed the deal and had committed to tender
about 25% of their directly and indirectly held stakes in the
Vienna-based real-estate company.
"Management sees the rejection of the offer as a mandate from
shareholders to continue to improve profitability and, as
announced, to review the financing structure to start a significant
reduction in interest costs," Conwert said.
Nevertheless, Conwert anticipates further consolidation in the
property sector in Germany and Austria, and said it would "strive
to achieve the best possible results for shareholders in the course
of this consolidation process."
The acquisition was the latest in a series of deals in the
German and Austrian real-estate sector.
In March, Austrian real-estate investor Immofinanz AG bid
EUR18.50 a share for a stake of up to 29% in its peer CA Immobilien
Anlagen AG. The deal would be worth about EUR530 million.
The move comes after CA Immo and Russian O1 Group Limited
earlier this month offered to buy an additional 13.5% in Immofinanz
for EUR2.80 a share. Immofinanz' executive and supervisory board
have since recommended shareholders not to accept the offer,
calling the offer price "inappropriate."
Write to Neetha Mahadevan at neetha.mahadevan@wsj.com
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