Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity firm, has made a preliminary bid for assets of Australian shopping-mall owner Centro Properties Group, according to a person briefed on the offer.
Melbourne-based Centro -- which manages A$18.6 billion ($18.9 billion) of shopping malls in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. -- put its assets up for sale two years after its acquisition spree in the U.S. backfired as the world’s largest economy contracted and debt costs soared. Centro said on Dec. 22 it had received several expressions of interest.
Lend Lease Group, Stockland, AMP Capital Investors Ltd. and Colonial First State Global Asset Management are among bidders for the malls, local media reports have said. Apollo Management International LLP has also joined the bidding, the Financial Times reported, without saying where it got the information.
News reports suggest that a competitive bidding situation may eventuate for some or all of the Centro property assets. A recent look at commercial property outlooks in the US and Australia also suggest that any future writedowns in asset values may be lower than have been the case over the last few years. With CER ("good" Centro) clearing its equity hedges linked to CNP ("bad" Centro) and an estimated NAV of $0.40, I have added CER to my portfolio over the last month.
Disclosure: CER (Long)
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