Private equity giant Blackstone today looked set to win its takeover tussle for warehouse and housebuilder St Modwen Properties with an increased takeover offer of £1.27 billion.
It is Blackstone’s seventh offer for the business and, like the previous bid, won the recommendation of the board. Blackstone said it was its final offer and major shareholders Aviva and Aberdeen Standard, with 10% of the company between them, said they would vote in favour.
Blackstone is buying St Modwen primarily for its large portfolio of warehouses used by the booming online retailers. It reckons it can increase the average returns of St Modwen from 6% now to up to 10%. It has a fast growing global warehouse business called Mileway which has 600 sites in the UK.
