REIT Industrial Logistics Properties Trust said on Friday it will buy peer Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp in an all-cash deal valued at about $4 billion, including debt and transaction costs, to beef up its presence in the United States.
The acquisition comes at a time when e-commerce has boomed in the U.S. and warehouses to store goods are in demand, leading to an uptick in property purchases this year.
Industrial Logistics will pay $21.00 for each Monmouth share, a premium of 11.3% to its Thursday close.
Monmouth operates 126 industrial and logistics properties and has a presence in 32 states in the United States, and will add to Industrial Logistics’ over 290 properties.
Monmouth shareholders in August had rejected the company’s plan to sell itself to Equity Commonwealth, another REIT.
As part of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of next year, Industrial Logistics will assume $409 million of debt.
Separately, investor Blackwells Capital, which had tried to buy Monmouth last year, dropped its proxy fight against the company, Monmouth said on Friday.
Source: Reuters.com