Hansteen agrees £25m IMPT buy

Hansteen has agreed an all-cash offer to buy industrial investment firm Industrial Multi Property Trust for £25m. IMPT shareholders will receive 300p per share, a premium of 22.4% over the closing price of 245p on 16 February, and a 35.1% premium on the previous three-month average. The company invests in high-yielding UK commercial property, of which about 86% is light industrial and the rest is offices. It has a portfolio valued at £85.3m, as of 31 December 2016. Hansteen said the IMPT portfolio will be “easily absorbed” because of the similarities between the two. The deal stemmed from a dispute about refinancing options in 2015 between IMPT’s largest shareholders, Alpha Real Trust and Alpha, and the company’s independent directors who believed the company was over-geared. When the two sides could not come to an agreement on how to refinance the company, Alpha Real Trust called an extraordinary general meeting to vote on the removal of the independent directors, a proposal the shareholders rejected. Following publicity from the vote, IMPT said it received offers for its shares from other companies, including Hansteen. That offer, the independent directors decided, was the best way to retain the company’s value. Hansteen joint chief executives Ian Watson and Morgan Jones said in a statement: “With experienced management teams in seven offices around the UK, which build close relationships with tenant and local stakeholders, we are well positioned to be able to achieve sustainable growth in the portfolio’s rental income and occupancy through our intense asset management initiatives.” • To send feedback, e-mail karl.tomusk@estatesgazette.com or tweet @ktomusk or @estatesgazette