Financial investors increase offer for Aareal Bank

Created: 01/26/2022, 09:29 am

The three financial investors have increased the offer for Aareal Bank.

© Fredrik von Erichsen/dpa

A consortium of three financial investors wants to take over Aareal Bank.

Now the trio has followed up again - with a "final offer".

Munich - A consortium of three financial investors wants to win the doubting shareholders of Aareal Bank over to their side with a higher takeover bid.

Advent, Centerbridge and CPPIB are now offering EUR 31 per share for the Wiesbaden real estate financier, EUR two more than before, as the bidders announced on Wednesday.

"This even more attractive offer price is final and there will be no further increase in the offer price," they emphasized.

With the new offer, Aareal Bank is valued at EUR 1.86 billion, EUR 120 million more than before.

Aareal Bank: Hedge funds are reluctant to take over

The trio of investors is thus accommodating the hedge funds, which hold well over 20 percent of Aareal Bank and have so far resisted the takeover.

Above all, they consider the IT subsidiary Aareon, which is considered the most valuable part of the real estate financier, to be undervalued.

Advent has held a 30 percent stake in this since 2020.

Whether the activist shareholders will now give in is an open question.

In order to avert a foreseeable setback, the financial investors lowered the acceptance threshold for their offer to 60 from 70 percent a week ago, thus gaining two weeks more time.

By last Wednesday, only 19 percent of Aareal shareholders had accepted the offer.

Aareal Bank share: retail price is less than EUR 31

The increase in the offer has not changed the acceptance period.

The financial investors bought an Aareal Bank share for EUR 31, which means that this price automatically applies to all shareholders.

You still have until next Wednesday (February 2nd) to offer your papers to the financial investors.

Aareal Bank shares rose by almost eight percent to EUR 30 in early trading on Wednesday and thus remained below the new offer.