Palmer Capital Partners’ takeover bid for Invista REIM reaches its closing stages this week as the two companies appear at a series of court hearings to finalise the deal. The first hearing will take place tomorrow, with two more scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
The 10-minute hearings are largely a formality, according to Palmer Capital chief executive Alex Price.
“We do not believe there is a chance of another company coming forward to bid at this stage,” he told EGi.
The sale of Invista REIM has become perhaps the most keenly contested acquisitions of a listed real estate company this year, after Palmer Capital’s £39.7m bid displaced an earlier offer from Internos Real Investments.
Internos Real Investments made a £33.6m bid to buy up all of the Invista shares in May. However, Invista shareholders later said that they were unhappy with the offer, and believed that Internos had significantly undervalued the company.
Palmer Capital received irrevocable undertakings from Invista REIM shareholders for their offer on 18 June, which would fall away if a rival bidder made an offer of 12.5% higher than Palmer Capital’s before the expiry of the offer period. Private equity investor Mount Street Capital Partners was reportedly considering a bid to trump Palmer Capital’s offer in July, but later announced that it was walking away from the competition.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
