Student accommodation specialist Unite Group has tabled an offer for its smaller peer Empiric Student Property.
Following media speculation, the board of Empiric confirmed that it received a non-binding proposal from Unite on 7 May and following a period of engagement received a revised offer on 29 May.
That offer comprises 30p in cash and 0.09 new Unite shares per Empiric share. Based on Unite’s closing share price of 855.5p on 4 June, the proposal values each Empiric share at 107.0p or £710.6m.
This is at a large premium to the company’s share price of 97.3p on 4 June or market cap of £646.2m.
However, it is a 10.5% discount to Empiric’s EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) of 119.6p at 31 December 2024.
Nevertheless, Empiric’s board has agreed with Unite to enter an initial period of due diligence, adding a further announcement would be made as appropriate.
The company’s share price is up almost 6% today at the time of writing.
The board added: “There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer if made.”
