Kirsh-led consortium returns with $2.2b bid for Abacus Storage
Two months after Abacus Storage King rejected a $1.9 billion buyout bid from a South African billionaire and a United States giant, the consortium is back with a better offer.
Street Talk understands South African billionaire Nathan Kirsh’s Ki Group and US-listed Public Storage have presented a $1.65 per share offer to the board, a 14.7 per cent increase on its initial $1.47 per share offer.
The new $2.17 billion offer represents a 42.2 per cent premium to the share price before the consortium approached the board with its initial non-binding indicative offer in early April.
Abacus Storage King, which operates 210 self-storage sites across Australia and New Zealand and was spun out of its parent Abacus two years ago, has engaged with the new offer and the board has granted the consortium due diligence, sources said.
Shares in Abacus Storage King last traded at $1.48 and have never breached $1.60.
Kirsh already controls 59.47 per cent of the register of Abacus Storage King, directly (as a direct holder on the registry) and indirectly (via the Abacus Storage management vehicle). As they put the scheme forward, the consortium can’t vote if the board recommends it.
Self-storage operator National Storage REIT acquired a 4.78 per cent stake in April, and upped this to 9.51 per cent on Friday. Shares traded at $1.17 prior to the first bid.
Goldman Sachs is advising the consortium. Macquarie is tending to the board.
