SEGRO has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Parisian urban warehousing company Sofibus Patrimoine, in a deal that values the target at €238.5m (£217.5m).
The real estate investment trust will pick up a 74.9% stake in the French company for €313.71 per share. The transaction, set to go through in the first quarter of next year, means that SEGRO will control 94.4% of the French firm, having bought a 19.5% interest in 2018.
The deal comes shortly after SEGRO shares started trading on the Euronext Paris, in a secondary listing designed to support European expansion after Brexit.
Sofibus Patrimoine’s estate includes the major urban warehouse complex Parc d’Activités des Petits Carreaux, a 1.61m sq ft site which has easy access to central Paris.
SEGRO plans to modernise the site, which contains 35 units and is 96% occupied, and increase rents over time.
David Sleath, chief executive of SEGRO, said: “This is a rare opportunity to significantly increase our exposure to urban warehousing in Paris, which has long been a core market for SEGRO.
“We have got to know Sofibus well as a shareholder and member of the board of directors over the past two years and look forward to the next stage of growth for the Parc d’Activités des Petits Carreaux.
“Our local team has intimate knowledge of the Paris warehouse market and will deploy its expertise to add value by actively managing Sofibus’s existing assets and by developing new, state of the art warehousing on the adjacent plots of land to satisfy growing occupier demand.”
SEGRO is being advised by Lazard on the deal.
