Investa Office Fund gives Blackstone four days to match rival bid: Reuters

Investa Office Fund (IOF) said on Monday it has given U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group four days to match a rival offer by Canada’s Oxford Properties Group as the bidding war for the Australian office owner comes to a head.

IOF said in a statement that its board has assessed Oxford’s binding proposal and determined it to be superior to the Blackstone offer.

IOF said Blackstone has until October 18 to match or outbid Oxford’s offer. A Blackstone spokeswoman declined to comment.

IOF last month postponed a shareholder meeting to vote on Blackstone’s offer, choosing instead to engage with Oxford after the Canadian firm sweetened its bid.

Oxford upped its offer for IOF to A$5.60 a share, which was A$0.10 higher than Blackstone’s latest bid and valued IOF at A$3.35 billion (US$2.38 billion).

Blackstone initially bid A$3.08 billion for Investa in May.

Update: Oxford Properties Group invests in and manages real estate assets on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil; editing by Richard Pullin)

(This story has been edited by Kirk Falconer, editor of PE Hub Canada)