FTSE 250 movers: Balanced Commercial surges on Starwood cap agreed bid

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,793.18 -0.07%

Balanced Commercial Property Trust has agreed to be bought by private investment firm Starwood Capital for £673.5m.

Under the terms of the agreement announced on Wednesday, BCPT shareholders will receive 96p per share in cash. This represents a premium of around 21.5% to the closing share price of 79p on 12 April, which was the last business day before the start of the offer period.

Compared to BCPT’s last reported unaudited net asset vale per share of 105.1p, however, the price represents a discount of around 8.7%.

BCPT chairman Paul Marcuse said: "The BCPT board has explored a range of potential options for the company, including continuation with a revised strategy, a managed wind-down of the portfolio and the partial or full sale of BCPT's share capital or assets.

"The BCPT board is pleased with the interest shown in the company and its portfolio by various credible third parties during the strategic review, which represented a range of sources of capital (including UK institutional capital, private equity investors, listed real estate peers and asset managers). The BCPT board has carefully considered each of the company's strategic options, benchmarked against the likely returns that could be achieved in a managed wind-down.

"Following careful consideration, and having taken independent third-party advice, we believe that the proposed transaction with Starwood offers a successful outcome for our shareholders, offering a full cash exit at a significant premium to BCPT's undisturbed share price."

Segro said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy rival Tritax EuroBox in a deal with an implied enterprise value of around £1.1bn including debt.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tritax EuroBox shareholders will be entitled to receive 0.0765 new Segro shares for each of their shares and a dividend of 1.25 cents per share for the quarter ending 30 September 2024.

The transaction values each Tritax EuroBox share at 68.4p, which is a premium of about 27% to the closing Tritax share price on 31 May, which was the last day before Segro made the offer.

It represents a discount of approximately 14% to Tritax EuroBox's last reported IFRS net asset value.

The deal values Tritax at about £552m, which, based on the company’s net debt as at 31 March 2024, implies an enterprise value of approximately £1.1bn.

Segro chief executive David Sleath said: "This transaction offers the opportunity to acquire a high quality portfolio of big box warehouses in core European markets which would complement and enhance our existing assets. The management of the portfolio will be internalised on completion, taking advantage of economies of scale from our existing, locally-based operating platform.

"We intend to apply the long-established Segro strategy of disciplined capital allocation and operational excellence, based on an efficient and resilient corporate and capital structure and the responsible Segro principles as we do for all assets we own and manage.

"While shareholders can expect this approach to lead to some capital recycling, we recognise the high quality of the portfolio assembled by the manager and look forward to working with it for the benefit of our new and existing shareholders."

Wizz Air confirmed its first route using the new Airbus A321XLR long-range narrowbody aircraft on Wednesday, with direct flights between Milan Malpensa and Abu Dhabi.

Industrial thread maker Coats Group said it had completed de-risking its UK defined benefit pension scheme by purchasing a £1.3bn bulk annuity policy.

Coats said the buy-in was "the final and most significant step in Coats' fully insuring its UK pension obligations" and would also give it the option to remove the scheme fully from the group's balance sheet in the future "at very limited further administrative cost".

"Now that the scheme is fully funded and cash contributions have ceased this will lock in a significant improvement in the group's free cash generation."

Market Movers

FTSE 250 - Risers

Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 94.60p 9.74%
IP Group (IPO) 44.15p 4.62%
FirstGroup (FGP) 162.90p 3.69%
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 301.00p 3.08%
Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 68.50p 3.01%
Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 706.00p 2.62%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 319.00p 2.57%
Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 543.00p 2.45%
Coats Group (COA) 98.60p 2.28%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 292.50p 2.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,191.00p -4.80%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 931.00p -4.32%
Carnival (CCL) 1,115.50p -2.87%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 388.80p -2.85%
Moonpig Group (MOON) 203.00p -2.64%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 531.00p -2.57%
Indivior (INDV) 890.50p -2.46%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,090.00p -2.11%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,660.00p -2.06%
Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 856.00p -2.06%