July 22 (Reuters) – U.S. warehousing giant Prologis on Wednesday made what it called its best and final proposal to buy British rival Segro for about £14 billion ($18.8 billion), in a last-minute approach ahead of a takeover deadline as investors urged the pair to keep talking.
Shares in Segro rose more than 4% to £9.07 by 0936 GMT but remained below the new bid price of £10.32 per share.
The offer comprises 0.0920 Prologis shares and a partial cash alternative of up to £3.5 billion, marking an improvement from the company’s third proposal, which Segro rejected on Monday.
“The Best and Final Proposal is final and will not be increased,” Prologis said in a statement, although it added that it could still choose to do so under some exceptional conditions.
Investors including APG Asset Management, Norges Bank and CCLA Investment Management urged the companies to engage in talks, saying a combination was valuable and merited consideration.
Prologis’ latest proposal represents a roughly 45% premium to the group’s closing price on June 23, the day before Prologis first went public with its interest.
“We met and engaged with Prologis over the weekend and have been clear that we would consider and engage again on a revised proposal,” a Segro spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters shortly before Prologis’ improved bid was announced.
The British group did not immediately respond to a further request for comment on the latest offer.
($1 = 0.7478 pounds)
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi, Pushkala Aripaka, Anushka Chourasia and Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Kirsten Donovan)
