Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust proposes internalisation of managers

[SINGAPORE] The managers of Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust (Sert) on Monday (Sep 28) said that they have proposed the internalisation of the real estate investment trust’s manager, the business trust’s trustee-manager, and the logistics and light industrial asset management and property management platform.

It will be done at a consideration of 94 million euros (US$107 million), excluding third-party co-investment stakes, the managers added.

This is so that the ownership of both the logistics and light industrial assets and the logistics and light industrial management platform is within the Sert structure.

The move consolidates about 100 employees across 10 European jurisdictions and Singapore, who already manage Sert’s portfolio spanning 96 assets with more than 1.6 million square metres (sq m) of lettable area, and third-party asset management portfolios spanning 46 assets with around 618,000 sq m of lettable area.

It also involves the acquisition of minority co-investment stakes in managed assets directly under Sert’s ownership.

As part of the funding of the proposed internalisation, the managers of Sert proposed to issue 40 million subscription stapled securities to relevant Stoneweg entities to raise gross proceeds of around 80 million euros.

This is on top of up to 34 million euros in cash payable by Sert upon final completion, the managers noted.

“A further maximum of 8.4 million euros in cash may be paid for co-investment stakes linked to third-party asset management contracts that transfer to Sert by the time of completion,” they added.

The trust’s managers requested for a trading halt prior to market open on Monday from 9 am to 12 pm. The counter ended 3.2 per cent or S$0.07 lower at S$2.10 on Friday.

SEE ALSO

Manager internalisation isn’t the solution to Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust’s problem

It is expected to resume trading at 1 pm on Monday.