AVID Property's buyout bid values Australia's Ingenia Communities at US$1.5bil

AUSTRALIA: Australia's Ingenia Communities said on Monday it received a takeover proposal from AVID Property Group Holdings Pty, valuing the firm at A$2.20 billion (US$1.54 billion).

AVID's bid of A$5.40 for each Ingenia share, made on Friday after market hours, represents a premium of 13.4 per cent to the land-lease community operator's last close.

It brings a rival bidder into the contest for the property developer, which has received three rounds of bids from Warburg Pincus, and could derail the company's planned A$992.5-million acquisition of Peet.

The board decided to enter into a process deed with AVID, diversified residential developer, and give it a period of "soft" exclusivity of up to six weeks, Ingenia said, terminating Warburg Pincus' access to its data room as a result.

Last week, the company set an October 23 deadline to sign a sign a process deed with Warburg Pincus, after three rounds of bids from the US private equity firm.

AVID's bid is 2.9 per cent above Warburg Pincus' latest offer of A$5.25 a share.

The AVID deal also hinges on Ingenia terminating an implementation deed with Peet, announced in late August as part of the latter's acquisition.