JUAN JOSÉ BRUGERA, PRESIDENT OF COLONIAL
The minority shareholders of SFL, Colonial's subsidiary in France, have given a positive response to the mixed takeover bid by Colonial that allows them to join the shareholding of the office platform. As announced by the company, the tender offer for 5% of SFL's shares held by minority SFL shareholders has been closed with an acceptance by 4.2% of the holding capital stock of 1,801,231 SFL shares. Colonial thus becomes the owner of 98.33% of its French subsidiary.
This transaction means for Colonial to strengthen its position in the French market. Specifically, the group increases its exposure to prime assets of Paris office buildings by more than 1 billion euros, as well as to the new value generation projects currently under development by SFL.
The OPA culminates an operation that began during the first half of 2021, when Colonial shareholders approved to reinforce their participation in its French subsidiary SFL, then at 81.7%, by acquiring 12.9% of SFL, which belonged to Predica, a personal insurance subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Assurances, and the launch of a mixed voluntary takeover bid for the remaining 5% held by minority shareholders of SFL.
Colonial's offer to SFL minorities consisted of a consideration of 46.66 euros per share and five newly issued Colonial shares (listed in Madrid and Barcelona) for each SFL share. After the acceptance of 84% of the minority shareholders of SFL, the consideration to be paid by Colonial amounts to a total effective amount of 84 million euros and the delivery of a total of nine million newly issued Colonial shares.
The whole of the operation through which Colonial achieves almost 100% of SFL means, in turn, the reinforcement of the long-term alliance with Predica, an institutional investor of recognized prestige, which now owns 4% of Colonial. Colonial will not use the forced sale procedure after the completion of the OPA and the SFL shares will consequently continue to be listed on Euronext Paris.
“We closed an operation with great success that leads us to continue insisting on the prime profile of our assets by increasing our presence in Paris, the largest office market in the Eurozone, a value generation strategy that has made us the largest listed company European in the office buildings sector and in the most valuable Spanish real estate ”, explains Juan José Brugera, Colonial's CEO.
