Investment bankers at JPMorgan representing the interests of the National Storage REIT are believed to be trying to drum up a competing bid for the real estate group from a group out of the US.
It comes as the market remains in the dark as to how much suitor Gaw Capital Partners is offering for the company.
JPMorgan is remaining tight lipped about the situation but it is understood to be working hard to secure a rival offer.
National Storage told the market on Thursday that it had received a bid from Gaw Capital Partners, but did not disclose the price, saying discussions were preliminary.
The party that is a dominant player in the space is Chicago-based Heitman, although it is unknown if it would be keen on making an offer.
For the 2019 financial year, National Storage produced a $144.8m net profit and analysts believe its platform remains valuable. The company is Australasia’s largest self-storage owner-operator, with more than 60,000 residential and commercial customers at more than 170 storage centres across Australia and New Zealand.
It comes as other takeovers continue to be discussed in the real estate space, with a number of companies in recent months said to be running the numbers on their rivals.
One left field suggestion has been that Lendlease was looking at the country’s largest residential developer Stockland as recently as December, with UBS in Stockland’s corner and Gresham working with Lendlease.
However, it is understood that a move was placed on ice.