Brookfield, GIC prepare multi-billion bid for National Storage REIT
Brookfield and Singaporean wealth giant GIC are preparing a consortium bid for National Storage REIT, the biggest landlord of self-storage sites across Australia and New Zealand.
National Storage last traded on the ASX at $2.26 per share with a market capitalisation of more than $3 billion. Lender sources involved, who are piecing together a multi-billion dollar debt package to finance the deal, told this column the offer price was pegged close to net tangible asset value.
Brookfield and GIC declined to comment.
Sources said the bidder consortium is advised by Deutsche Bank and Jefferies, and arranging a hefty debt package with a dozen lending banks. Citi and JPMorgan are advising the target.
The bid comes at a time when National Storage REIT has traded at a circa 7 per cent discount to the NTA, even as listed REITs this bounced back to trading at premiums to their underlying asset values on the back of three rate cuts in Australia. Sell-side analysts from Macquarie in an October 24 noted this lag has been despite NSR’s lower-funding costs, demographic tailwinds, and its status as a sizeable exposure to a sector that is in-demand with institutional players.
National Storage REIT boss Anthony Catsoulis, who has built the business from the ground up, posted $164 million underlying earnings for the year to June 30. The group had 274 centres and 1.5 million net lettable area.
It comes after its peer, Abacus Storage King was this year subject of an unsuccessful $2.2 billion bid from its shareholder Ki Corporation and NYSE-listed player Public Storage.
