The battle for the $1.9bn National Storage REIT may now be a three-horse race, but there were supposedly four parties in the mix in recent times, with Blackstone weighing a bid for the company.
Apparently investment bank UBS had been working with Blackstone to put forward a bid for the business, but the understanding is that the buyout fund was only prepared to pay slightly above the $2 per share mark for the real estate investment trust.
The contest for National Storage REIT has now well and truly heated up, with American rival Public Storage offering $2.40 per share for the property company and Warburg Pincus and Gaw Capital both offering $2.20 per share, equating to a $1.73bn market value.
While Public Storage, advised by Morgan Stanley, is seen as the clear frontrunner, some say that the other suitors should not be discounted as they sharpen their pencils and prepare to carry out due diligence.
Some say there are major synergies between the Warburg Pincus-controlled real estate business ESR, which owns logistics real estate assets across the Asia-Pacific region, and National Storage REIT.
Gaw is working with Goldman Sachs. Credit Suisse has been working with Warburg Pincus, while UBS was also recently called in to offer assistance.
Meanwhile, Abacus Property, which also owns storage assets, has made it known that it no longer has a stake in National Storage REIT or any other REITs and is not thought to be a contender.
The storage property owner came into play after Gaw Capital Partners had made an approach to buy the business, as was revealed by DataRoom on January 22.
Attempts were then made by the adviser to National Storage REIT, JPMorgan, to drum up competition for the business, approaching potential suitors in the US, as also revealed by DataRoom.
Public Storage is an international self-storage company based in California.
It is the largest brand of self-storage services in the United States.
The business, advised by Morgan Stanley, has more than $US10bn of assets under management and is listed on the NYSE.
Additional reporting:
Ben Wilmot
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