January 2025
Sole Financial Adviser
€508 million
Buy-side M&A

Cibus

Sole Financial Adviser

Van Lanschot Kempen acted as Sole Financial Adviser in the €508 million acquisition of Forum Estates by Cibus

Transaction highlights

  • On 27 January 2025, Cibus Nordic Real Estate AB (“Cibus”) completed the announced acquisition of Forum Estates, an owner and manager of €508 million grocery and daily-goods properties in the Benelux, marking its first step into continental Europe
  • On 18 December 2024, Cibus announced the contemplated acquisition of Forum Estates as it had received irrevocable commitments from 68% of the shareholders, allowing the remaining shareholders to be dragged, and 68% of subordinated loan investors, with the target to obtain additional commitments up to at least 90%
  • On closing of the transaction, Cibus acquired 100% of Forum Estates’ equity and 88% of the subordinated loans in exchange for 13,313,895 newly issued Cibus shares, representing almost 21% of outstanding Cibus shares
  • For the purpose of the transaction, the newly issued Cibus shares were valued at €15.60 per share, a 31% premium to Cibus’ EPRA NTA as of 30 September 2024, valuing 100% of the equity and subordinated loan at €220 million
  • The new Cibus shares will be subject to a 180-day lock-up, in which period the shares can only be sold during four open windows with a maximum of 20% per window
  • The transaction is in line with Cibus’ strategy and expected to be accretive from day one, with 3-5% earnings capacity per share accretion and 7% EPRA NTA accretion whilst being LTV neutral
  • Van Lanschot Kempen acted as Sole Financial Adviser to Cibus

About Cibus

Cibus is a real estate company listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap. Cibus acquires, develops and manages high-quality properties in the Nordics with daily-goods store chains as anchor tenants. The company currently owns more than 630 properties in Europe. The largest tenants are Kesko, Tokmanni, Coop Sweden, S Group, Dagrofa, Carrefour and Lidl.

About Forum Estates

Forum Estates is a private real estate company headquartered in Belgium. Forum Estates is an owner and manager of grocery and daily-good properties in the Benelux. The portfolio consists of 149 properties with a gross asset value of €508 million, yielding €33 million per annum in gross rental income. The largest tenants are Carrefour, Jumbo, Spar Colruyt, Lidl and Albert Heijn.

Background Van Lanschot Kempen European Real Estate

  • Van Lanschot Kempen has advised on more than €105 billion in real estate transactions across 15 different countries in Europe in the last 10 years
  • Since 2020, Van Lanschot Kempen advised on more than 150 transactions across different countries, representing a total deal value of over €33 billion in a challenging and unprecedented environment
  • The transaction underpins Van Lanschot Kempen’s unique position in Benelux real estate and retail property, having advised on transactions of more than €9 billion in aggregate with Benelux real estate companies and more than €2 billion with retail property companies since 2020, including the Benelux cross-border merger of listed companies Vastned Retail and Vastned Belgium

Contact

Thomas ten Hoedt Van Lanschot Kempen

Thomas ten Hoedt

Managing Director
European Real Estate

Emailt.tenhoedt@vanlanschotkempen.com

Mark van Laere

Executive Director
European Real Estate