PHOENIX- (Updated content at the end) Less than 48 hours after receiving an unsolicited purchase offer from American Realty Capital Properties Inc., Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc.'s board of directors flatly rejected the proposed $9 billion bid. According to a release from the board's special committee, "the proposed sale of CCPT III to ARCP at this time would not be in the best interests of CCPT III and its stockholders."
According to yesterday's GlobeSt.com report, Nicholas Schorsch, chairman and CEO with the New York City-based ARCP, wrote to CCPT III's board, offering to pay $9 billion for the local, nontraded REIT. In that letter, Schorsch pointed out that the buy would lead to "the largest, highest quality, publicly traded REIT in the net lease sector."
Even as locally based CCPT III turned down ARCP's offer, it reaffirmed its commitment to buy Cole Holdings Corp. Once that acquisition closes, CCPT III will change the name of the combined entity to Cole Real Estate Investments Inc., with plans for a New York Stock Exchange listing.
UPDATE
In response to Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc.'s refusal to consider its offer, American Realty Capital Properties Inc. issued the following statement:
"ARCP finds it remarkable that CCPT III and its board of directors have rejected the Company's proposal, which offers CCPT III's stockholders superior value and certainty as compared to the proposed acquisition and internalization of Cole Holdings, without seeking to contact ARCP or better understand its offer in any way.
"In its apparent rush to close its inferior and affiliated internalization transaction, CCPT III continues to deprive its stockholders a voice or a choice. It is insufficient for CCPT III merely to assert that its previously announced insider transaction is superior to ARCP's without providing stockholders and the broker community a single reason why that may be the case.
The statement goes on to say that ARCP is "deeply disappointed" with CCPT III's reaction but remains committed to the offer.
Updates will be issued on GlobeSt.com as they become available.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
