The financial investors Centerbridge and Advent want to take over Aareal Bank in Wiesbaden. The management of the real estate financier welcomed the offer worth around 1.74 billion euros. The offer is in the best interests of the company, said Aareal Bank boss Jochen Klösges, who has only recently become the institute’s chairman. Investors are behind the bank’s strategy and will accelerate growth even further. “Contrary to the often-voiced speculation, there will be no breakup,” said Klösges. Otherwise the management would have “definitely not signed” the investor agreement.
Aareal Bank finances real estate worldwide, especially offices and hotels, has 3,000 employees and is one of only three listed German banks. With a balance sheet total of 45 billion euros, it is smaller than Commerzbank or Deutsche Bank. But at least it would be one of the largest bank takeovers in Germany in years.
The move was well received on the stock market: The shares included in the SDax index for small stocks rose at times by almost four percent to EUR 29.18. The investors’ offer of 29 euros per Aareal share corresponds to a premium of around 23 percent on the closing price on October 6, the day before the takeover talks became known. The purchase offer provides for a minimum acceptance threshold of 70 percent. The offer documents are to be published in mid-December.
Aareal also announced that the proposal for a dividend of EUR 1.10 per share will be removed from the agenda of the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for December 9th. In order to finance the accelerated growth, the financial investors did not want to distribute any dividends in the coming years, said Klösges. They are also ready to provide additional equity should growth opportunities arise. Advent and Centerbridge bring experience in the areas of financial services, real estate, software and payments, said Ranjan Sen, Germany boss of Advent International.
Not all shareholders agreed. The hedge fund Teleios Capital criticized the project. The supervisory board is trying again to take the simplest route to the detriment of the shareholders, explained its co-founder Adam Epstein. “Aareal is not a Christmas present for the Supervisory Board to be given away”. Teleios will try to ensure that this initiates a structured sales process in the new year. Teleios and the activist major shareholder Petrus Advisers had previously called for the IT subsidiary Aereon to be sold and often criticized it. Petrus Advisers did not comment on Tuesday.