South African billionaire Natie Kirsch is estimated to have netted a £45m profit from the sale of his stake in Minerva.
It was revealed this week that Kirsch, who bought the bulk of his stake in the troubled listed developer at the bottom of the market in 2008, had finally accepted the 120.5p-a-share cash offer from Delancey and Area Property Partners.
Kirsch, through his vehicle KiFin, was estimated to have an all-in cost of 25p a share for his 29.5% stake in the company, which would have cost him just more than £11m.
His sale of the stake would have fetched around £57m – or five times his investment – netting him around £45m and severing his involvement in the company he tried to take over in 2009.
Following the sale of Kirsch’s stake Jupiter now has control of 88% of the existing shares for its £202m takeover offer tabled in May.
It needs another 2% to hit the 90% trip-point that allows it to compulsorily acquire any remaining shares.
This is expected to happen imminently, giving Jupiter control of the entire company.
The heavily indebted developer, which owns assets including the vacant 442,000 sq ft Walbrook in the City and the part-vacant 560,000 sq ft St Botolphs, is now set to be taken out of the glare of the stockmarket and put on the road to recovery.
A statement from Jupiter said that it intended to apply for the cancellation of the troubled developer’s listing on the London Stock Exchange, and that Minerva will be re-registered as a private company.
The developer has debts of around £800m from five lending banks: Deutsche Postbank, HSH Nordbank, Nationwide, Lloyds Banking Group and Landesbank Berlin, of which £131m needs to be refinanced this year.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
