Oaktree Capital Management and CURA Vermögensverwaltung, the family office of the Otto family and parent company of ECE Group, through Hercules BidCo GmbH, will make a voluntary public takeover offer for all outstanding shares of Deutsche EuroShop for €21.50 per share in cash.
Deutsche EuroShop is a major shopping centre investor that owns a portfolio of 21 high quality centres in prime locations across Germany and selected cities in Central and Eastern Europe.
Deutsche EuroShop’s shareholders who accept the offer will receive the amount of the dividend to be paid for the 2021 financial year, which is expected to be €1.00 per share, resulting in a total offer value of €22.50 per share.
The offer values Deutsche EuroShop at an equity value of around €1.4 billion. The offer corresponds to a premium of 44.0% on the Xetra closing price of the share on May 20, 2022 (€15.63).
“Deutsche EuroShop has a top quality portfolio that we believe is underappreciated by the capital markets following a multi-year sell-off of the entire retail sector,” said Ben Bianchi, Managing Director and Head of European Real Estate at Oaktree. “In partnering with CURA and ECE, we believe we have the real estate expertise and financial resources to support the company in an increasingly competitive and evolving retail environment.”
“The ongoing headwinds that the retail sector has had to face have recently prevented the company from fully realizing the potential of its otherwise successful and conservative strategy. We have a long term perspective and the strength to jointly offer continued support for the company on its journey ahead,” said Dr. Volker Kraft, Managing Partner of ECE Real Estate Partners, the investment advisor to the consortium.
