The housing group Vonovia warns shareholders of its takeover target Deutsche Wohnen of a long dry spell when it comes to dividends. “It is also important for the small shareholders to know that Vonovia, as the majority shareholder in Deutsche Wohnen, will work to ensure that Deutsche Wohnen no longer pays dividends,” said Vonovia boss Rolf Buch.
The Bochumers had submitted their new voluntary takeover offer to the shareholders of the Berlin group on Monday morning, with which they want to jump the threshold of 50 percent of the shares. Vonovia had recently failed on this hurdle: The group was only able to collect 47.6 percent instead of the required 50 percent of Deutsche Wohnen shares. Buch has now made improvements and is now offering EUR 53 more per share in Deutsche Wohnen. Vonovia is now offering a total of around 19 billion euros for Deutsche Wohnen, which is primarily active in Berlin. The offer period is expected to end on September 20, 2021 at midnight, it said on Monday. Deutsche Wohnen boss Michael Zahn and his fellow board members have supported the new offer.
Vonovia boss Buch was optimistic that the new attempt would be successful. “I am confident that it can work now,” he said. Vonovia has learned the lessons from the failure of the previous takeover offer to Deutsche Wohnen shareholders and is now addressing them better. Vonovia has called in more banks to do this. Morgan Stanley, Perella Weinberg, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ParkView Partners supported the Bochum company. Vonovia has also formed joint teams with Deutsche Wohnen for this purpose. “We have learned that a deal that is actually taken for granted can still fail,” admitted Buch. “That’s why we try to reach as many investors as possible.” However, it must also be clear to shareholders of Deutsche Wohnen that there will be no improved offer and that if the current start-up fails, there will be no mandatory offer. “It is this offer or none,” said Buch. Many hedge funds had speculated for more money on their last attempt and withheld their stocks. Buch does not want to give room to such hopes.
The two real estate companies listed in the leading index Dax own a total of 550,000 apartments valued at more than 80 billion euros, most of them in Germany. “Together, the two companies can better shoulder the necessary investments in climate protection, needs-based living and affordable housing,” they had advertised for the merger. Vonovia shares lost around two percent on Monday, Deutsche Wohnen’s shares around 0.5 percent