Last Friday 24 February, Affine signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement for the acquisition from Lend Lease Global Properties (owned by Macquarie Global Property Advisors - MGPA) of 88% of its Luxembourg subsidiary GP Beta Holding, owner of the Belgium real estate company Banimmo Real estate SA/NV as well as its French subsidiary Banimmo Real Estate France. The closing of the transaction will take place on 28 February 2006.
This acquisition has been made on the basis of a 103.5M valuation for 100% of the company; the transaction will be financed by company resources coupled by a bank loan, with no access to the public market. As part of this transaction, Affine acquired 75% of the company, while Banimmos management will raise its interest from 12% to 25%. At a later stage, Affine could also sell part of its shares to institutional investors, but intends to remain a majority shareholder in GP Beta Holding.
Banimmo is a company specialising in commercial real estate. Banimmos team is recognised for its skills in repositioning office buildings. As of December 2005, the real estate portfolio of the company reached an estimated value of 276.3M for a total surface of 250,000 m2, mainly composed of offices in Brussels and Antwerp. Assets include the Brouckère Tower, Alma Court, the Honeywell site in the Da Vinci park, the former IBM training centre of La Hulpe, Atlantic Houses, etc. or total of 20 buildings and projects in Belgium as well as 2 assets in Luxembourg and 3 in France (in Colombes, Bordeaux and Clamart). The office premises represent 73% of the portfolio. The portfolio also includes 16% of hotels, 6% of warehouses and 5% of retail assets.
This transaction illustrates the development strategy of Affine in Euro zone countries surrounding France. The portfolio of the Group now comprises 99 buildings with a value of 687M.
The expertise of Banimmos team will allow the group to enlarge its field of actions as an investor, notably in France and Belgium. In addition, the acquisition of Banimmo is expected to make a significant contribution to the consolidated result of Affine, as of full-year 2006, on the basis of Banimmos financial results achieved in 2004.
Source: Groupe Affine
