(Bloomberg) — Shares of Hong Kong-listed ESR Group Ltd. climbed the most in almost seven months after receiving a binding takeover offer that valued the warehouse operator at about $7 billion.
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A consortium proposed to acquire all ESR shares for HK$13 each and take the company private, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. The offer represents a premium of more than 55% to the undisturbed share price of HK$8.35 in April.
ESR shares jumped as much as 6.6% after resuming trading on Thursday, the biggest intraday gain since May 14. The stock has advanced 11% this year, giving the company a market value of $6.6 billion.
The buyer group includes investment firms Starwood Capital Group, Sixth Street Partners, SSW Partners, Warburg Pincus and Qatar Investment Authority, according to the statement. Some of ESR’s biggest shareholders, including Omers Administration Corp. and non-executive director Lim Hwee Chiang, have committed to sell their shares to the consortium.
In February, Bloomberg News reported that ESR’s top shareholders were studying options for the Asian warehouse developer including a take private. Three months later, ESR received a first non-binding and conditional proposal from a group of investors including Starwood, Sixth Street and SSW.
Talks over the buyout of ESR have dragged on for several months, with the company’s fragmented ownership representing a key hurdle, people familiar with the matter have said. Shareholders have had different value expectations and it would take only a few opponents to block the transaction, the people have said.
Reuters on Nov. 28 reported the consortium may take ESR private in the coming weeks.
The consortium submitted an updated non-binding proposal in October, offering ESR shareholders the option to receive cash or roll over their shares, or a combination of both. As part of the updated offer, existing ESR investor Qatar Holding, an arm of sovereign wealth fund QIA, expressed support for the proposal and joined the consortium for the potential buyout, along with Warburg Pincus and ESR founders. The buyer group already holds about 40% of ESR’s shares.
ESR, which says it has about $154 billion in assets under management, focuses on real estate such as warehouses and data centers in markets including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.