Adler Real Estate in friendly takeover bid for Estavis
One small real estate company that has been flexing its muscles of late is erstwhile minnow, the Frankfurt-based Adler Real Estate AG. The listed company has been selectively buying up residential portfolios across Germany, and has now made a full offer to take over Berlin-listed fellow residential specialist Estavis AG.
Adler currently owns about 10,000 residential units in Germany with a gross value of €530m. located mainly (about 60%) in North Rhine-Westphalia, with about 1,600 units in Saxony. Estavis holds about 2,200 units and a small number of commercial properties, mainly in Berlin, Leipzig and Chemnitz in the eastern part of Germany, while its second main pillar, Accentro, specialises in residential privatisation.
Estavis’ recent half-year figures show an EBIT of €3.8m (up from €0.02m last year), a doubling of rental income from €2.4m to €5.0m, and turnover from privatisation in its Accentro unit of €9.1m. Overall net profit for the period was €0.1m, after a loss of €2.7m in the corresponding period last year. Group turnover was €16.1m (€18.0m last year).
According to Estavis board member Jacopo Mingazzini, “Fuelled by the persistently high demand for housing, we exploited our far-reaching sales channels and once more achieved an excellent result. The interest that foreign buyers have been showing - specifically for the Berlin market - remains sky high.” He said that the company will step up its efforts in apartment retailing this year, as well as its housing privatisation services.
The deal proposed by Adler involves a stock swap at an as-yet-undetermined exchange ratio for Adler shares from authorised capital. Adler and Estavis have a common shareholder in Wecken & Cie, which holds about 10% of both companies. Both companies have strong minority shareholders - Mezzanine IX Investors with 48.5% of Adler, and Thomas Bergander with 26.95% of Estavis AG. Adler board member Axel Harloff commented, “Our goal is the full consolidation of Estavis, where we see considerable potential for adding real value.” The bid is awaiting the approval of German financial regulator BaFin.