Palmer Capital has made a £39.7m offer for Invista Real Estate Investment Management, trumping an earlier bid by Internos Real Investments.
Last month Internos made a £33.6m board-recommended offer to buy the fund management company, which runs two funds: the Asian-focused Invista Real Estate International Fund and the UK and Europe-focused Invista Real Estate Opportunity Fund.
Palmer is also thought to have made an offer for the company at this stage, but lost out before this week’s fresh 14.8p a share offer – 18% higher than Internos’ 12.5p bid.
The move comes after Invista REIM’s 4.3% shareholder, Weiss Asset Management, slammed the Internos offer as “completely unacceptable” in an open letter published last week.
Fund manager and venture capital group Palmer plans to pay for the deal with £1m of its equity, and £40m from US real estate investor The Townsend Group.
Its proposal has the support of the board, but this could be beaten if a new bid at least 12.5% higher is received from Internos or another investor by the end of the month.
If Palmer successfully takes over the business, it is expected to wind down the funds over the next two years unless investors vote to extend the vehicles’ life.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
