M&A

30 November, 2009

UPDATE 1-Unibail, Simon Group silent on deal talk

* Wansquare: Unibail close to buying Simon Group assets

* Deal could be worth $1.5 billion - analyst

* Simon shares up 0.4 percent (Adds no comment from Simon Group, share prices, details)

By Lionel Laurent

PARIS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A media report claiming Franco-Dutch firm Unibail Rodamco (UNBP.PA) was set to buy a large part of the European portfolio of Simon Property Group (SPG.N) drew no comment from either company on Monday.

The report, published on Wansquare's website on Monday, said Unibail was "close to" agreeing to buy Simon's Arcadia mall in Warsaw -- worth 550 million euros ($827 million) according to one analyst -- as well as five shopping centres in France.

The six sites together could be worth up to 1 billion euros, said the analyst.

"We don't comment on market rumours," said a spokesman for Unibail, Europe's biggest property company. A spokesman for Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, America's largest real estate investment trust (REIT), also refused to comment.

Exane BNP Paribas analyst Valerie Guezi said the report did not seem "absurd" because the assets would sensibly fit within Unibail's portfolio, while Simon Property Group could be planning a bid for mall operator General Growth Properties (GGWPQ.PK), which filed for bankruptcy in April.

Simon recently hired investment adviser Lazard Ltd and law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Krantz to help explore a possible bid for General Growth, America's second-biggest REIT.

According to Wansquare, French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) would assist Unibail with the offer. A spokeswoman from Societe Generale would not comment.

At 1630 GMT, Unibail shares were down 1 percent at 150.10 euros, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 real estate index .FTE3X8730ECR was down 1.5 percent.

Shares of Simon Group were up 0.4 percent, at $70.02, underperforming a 0.8 percent rise for the MSCI US REIT index.

A sale would add to Simon's more than $4 billion in cash and cash equivalents. As of Sept. 30, Simon also had about $3.5 billion available under its revolving credit facility.

Unibail reported nine-month sales of 1.2 billion euros on Oct. 30, up 4.4 percent year-on-year, boosted by resilient shopping centres like the Quatre Temps in Paris' La Defense business district and Centrum Chodov in Prague. [ID:nLU209801]

Unibail also said it had raised 820 million euros on the bond market in the third quarter and that it had more than 3 billion in undrawn credit lines at Sept. 30. ($1 = 0.6650 euro) (Additional reporting by Ilaina Jonas; Editing by Marcel Michelson and David Cowell) (+33 1 49 49 56 85; lionel.laurent@thomsonreuters.com) (Reuters messaging: lionel.laurent.reuters.net@reuters.com)

Source: http://www.reuters.com