Through Catella’s property fund, Catella Property Fund Management AB (CPFM), the organisation signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in the leading UK real estate investment and asset management company, APAM Ltd.
With operations in 14 countries, Catella is a leading pan-European organisation specialising in property investments, fund management and banking.
APAM is an independent real estate investment and asset manager operating exclusively in the UK market offering clients an ‘end to end’ approach to support their investment strategy. APAM has assets under management of £1.4 billion and 41 employees.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval from the financial supervisory authority in Luxembourg, Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), sees CPFM acquire 75% of the shares in APAM for a total of £18million, on a debt and cash free basis. A non-refundable down payment of the purchase price of GBP 2.7 million was made at signing, while the remaining amount is to be paid in cash upon completion which is expected to take place in the second half of 2018.
Both founders and executive directors of APAM, Simon Cooke and William Powell, will remain shareholders in APAM, each with 12.5% of the share capital and voting power after completion and the company will continue to be independently run by its current management team.
The multi-disciplinary Reed Smith team was led by corporate partner James Wilkinson who was assisted by corporate associates Kathryn Bond, Tufayel Hussain; tax partner Caspar Fox and associate Harrison Stimson; real estate associate Stuart Wright; employment partner David Ashmore and associate Carl De Cicco; and pensions associate Micah Smith.
Forsters LLP acted for Simon Cooke and William Powell.
Commenting on the deal signing, partner James Wilkinson said:
“We are pleased to have advised Catella on this transaction and that the signing of the agreement has now taken place. Co-operation between the two entities will start immediately as we wait for regulatory approval. The synergies between the two are easy to see and together, we have no doubt, they will strengthen their offering to international investors by leveraging on the combined pan-European reach that they both provide.”
He continued:
“This deal will see our client Catella reach £18billion of assets under management and we wish them every success with growth moving forward. We look forward to working with them again in the future.”
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