Following a tender offer Stodir now holds 96.72% of the issued shares and voting rights of Keops, Denmark's largest listed property group. Stodir intends to initiate a compulsory acquisition procedure to acquire the remaining shares, and has requested an Extraordinary General Meeting of Keops to seek shareholder approval for the delisting of Keops shares from the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. The Keops shareholders were offered a choice between a cash consideration of DKK 24 for each Keops share of DKK 1; or 19.23 New Stodir shares of a nominal value of 1 ISK.
Skarphedinn Berg Steinarsson, CEO of Stodir, says, "We are very satisfied with the outcome. It is a major step forward in order to realize our vision of becoming the leading property company in the Nordic region by combining Stodir, the largest real estate group in Iceland with Keops, Denmark's largest listed property group."
The total assets of the combined group will amount to approximately DKK 32.5 billion. The combined group will have a diversified portfolio which is well balanced between office, retail and residential assets spread mainly across Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.
"Together Stodir and Keops will form a strong and focused property group with critical mass and a solid platform for further growth within the industry in the northern part of Europe. Both companies have a portfolio of high quality properties and together present several attractive operational synergies and advantages of scale."
As of 3 September 2007 a new Copenhagen based Operational Management Board with MD Karsten Poulsen, CFO Karina Deacon, COO Michael Rosenvold and CDO Michael Sheikh is formed. Together with the Stodir's Executive Board this new OMB will make up the Group Management in the future company. The Executive Board with CEO Skarphedinn Berg Steinarsson and CLO Valur Arnason will still be based in Reykjavik.
"The Keops management team has performed an outstanding job of developing and running the company. Furthermore, Stodir believes that one of the most valuable assets of Keops is its employees and Stodir has no plan to reduce the number of employees as a consequence of a completion of the Tender Offer."
Stodir aims to list its shares on an OMX stock exchange as soon as it is able to do so.
"The successful acquisition of Keops gives confidence regarding our timetable to list the shares within nine months," Skarphedinn Berg Steinarsson says.
Source: Keops
