M&A is in the air! The year kicked off with the £1.9bn merger of Lxi REIT and London Metric and, of late, the listed property world has looked on with an arched eyebrow at Tritax Big Box’s attempt to gobble up UKCM. There have been suggestions of leaks, counter leaks, briefings and all sorts of corporate fun and games, including the chairman of the target company (UKCM) voting against the proposed takeover terms that his own Board supported. Broker Stifel and Fund Manager Marcus Phayre-Mudge have both raised questions about the deal and whether it offers the best option for minority UKCM shareholders. At a time when sterling-denominated UK stocks in general, and UK Real estate stocks in particular, are seen as representing good value relative to private assets and other equity markets, it might be a good moment for The Takeover panel to be sure it has its house in order. It would not want to slip up if, say, British Land and Land Securities decided it was time to dance. Not that we have heard anything of course.
The PC and GC has a foot in both the media and Real Estate worlds and it is hard to ignore the different approach towards foreign ownership in the two sectors. (Tory) MPs got frightfully hot under the collar at the prospect of a middle-eastern backed private equity firm owning a newspaper that has a daily print circulation of around 200,000, whereas no one bats an eye when money from the same source snaps up UK trophy buildings and football clubs worth billions. Our political class still thinks it operates in a world where national newspapers are read by millions and form the opinions of many more. They should read the latest ABC statistics that show the massive decline in the readership of the nationals . The latest (March 2024) ABC figures show the once mighty FT now has a daily print circulation of only 100,000. Princess Diana’s favourite paper, The Sunday Mail, is at 50,000, and the red top that carried Clem Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair to power on the back of its millions of readers, The Daily Mirror, has now fallen to a paltry 240,000. These once great and feted titles are now, compared to the tech platforms, fringe, minority media assets and, frankly, anyone that has the will and wherewithal to invest in them should not be stopped from doing so on spurious public interest grounds.
