Business
Publication of Tender Offer
Publication of Tender Offer.
About this update from Grainger Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Grainger PLC\n03 March 2008\n\n3 March 2008\n\n\n GRAINGER PLC (\"Grainger\")\n\n GRAINGER PUBLISHES TENDER OFFER TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF FRANCONORHEINMAIN AG\n\nGrainger plc, the UK's largest quoted residential property company, today\nannounces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Grainger FRM GmbH, has formally\npublished its tender offer document relating to the tender offer for the\nacquisition of the shares in FranconoRheinMain AG (\"FranconoRheinMain\"), a\nresidential property company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.\n\nThe publication of the offer document follows Grainger's announcement of 31\nJanuary 2008, when it confirmed that it had exchanged contracts on the\nconditional acquisition of a 54% stake in FranconoRheinMain from Franconofurt\nAG.\n\nThe tender offer takes the form of a cash offer of €1.79 per share and\nrepresents a 19.3% premium to the price agreed with Franconofurt AG. As a\nresult, Grainger expects to pay a total consideration of €45.7 million for the\nacquisition of FranconoRheinMain, which it will satisfy from its existing\nresources.\n\nCommenting on the launch of the tender offer, Rupert Dickinson, Chief Executive\nof Grainger plc, said:\n\n\"We believe that this tender offer represents an excellent opportunity for\nFranconoRheinMain's shareholders to crystallise the value from their holdings.\nIn return, we will secure a strong portfolio of assets, which we believe will\ncomplement our existing holdings and provide us with an opportunity to extract\nlatent value through the application of our property and asset management\ncapabilities.\"\n\nThe tender offer will be conditional on receiving acceptances representing 70%\nof FranconoRheinMain shares (including the shares that may be held by Grainger\nand the shares to be acquired from Franconofurt). The acquisition of\nFranconofurt's shares is conditional on the tender offer being successful.\n\nGrainger already owns over 4,500 residential units in Germany with a market\nvalue (as at 30 September 2007) of approximately €346 million. Grainger's\nexisting units are located in or around the major cities of Munich, Stuttgart,\nDusseldorf and Berlin. Currently Grainger's local office in Mannheim provides\nspecialist asset management services to these properties. Following the\ncompletion of the acquisition of FranconoRheinMain, Grainger wil...