Undeterred by being rejected the first time around, a consortium has returned with a higher takeover bid for Abacus Storage King.
Abacus has received a revised non-binding and indicative proposal from South African billionaire Nathan Kirsh and the world’s largest self-storage company Public Storage in a second attempt to buy out the minority interests owning 40% of the target company.
Open to the new offer of A$1.65 (US$1.08) per stapled security as it represented a 15% premium to the first announced in April, the self-storage and removals company has agreed to open it is books to the determined bidders.
Abacus said the revised proposal remained subject to a number of conditions, such as regulatory approvals from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office and some tax rulings.
Abacus said its independent board committee intended to provide a six-week period of due diligence to the consortium to determine if it could come up with a proposal that was capable of being recommended to securityholders and implemented.
Access to due diligence was subject to the parties agreeing appropriate non-disclosure and standstill arrangements.
“At present there is no certainty that the parties will be able to agree terms to implement the Revised Proposal or that, even if terms are agreed, the conditions to the Revised Proposal will be satisfied or waived,” Abacus said in an ASX announcement.
The initial bid from Kirsch’s investment company Ki Corporation, which directly owns about 40% of Abacus Storage King, and Public Storage of $1.47 per stapled security valued Abacus at A$1.93 billion (US$1.15 billion).
Abacus securities had fallen five cents to $1.48 on Friday, valuing the company at $1.94 billion.
Founded in 1998 as Storage King, the company was purchased by Abacus Property Group, which spun it off into a separately listed entity in 2023 with Ki holding direct and indirect interests of about 60%.
