Jul 1, 2005
Tipperary Corporation, in which Slough Estates USA holds a 54% interest, announced today that it has entered into a merger agreement under which Australia-based Santos LTD will acquire 100% of Tipperary common stock at a price of $7.41 per share.
Slough Estates, a leading provider of flexible business space, has agreed to vote its shares in favour of the transaction. Slough Estates will receive gross proceeds of $222 million which includes approximately $20 million of debt due to Slough Estates plc. This represents a substantial premium to the current book value of $20 million.
When the transaction is completed Slough Estates will be relieved of all liabilities relating to its investment in Tipperary and its subsidiaries.
Tipperary Corporation is an independent oil and gas company based in Denver but with operations in Queensland, Australia.
Ian Coull, Chief Executive of Slough Estates, commented; "The sale of our interest in Tipperary is in line with our strategy to dispose of our non-core assets and to increase our focus on the provision of flexible business space for core property customers. The sale of Tipperary follows the successful sale of Quail West, the Florida based leisure development. We have achieved an excellent price for Tipperary, which after costs will exceed book value by $180 million, which shows that the decision to delay this sale until the outstanding litigation was settled has been fully justified to maximise shareholder value.
Slough Estates is a leading provider of flexible business space in business parks in Western Europe and North America, with over 1500 customers occupying 2,996,967 square metres of business space, with a total value of £3.9 billion. Slough Estates' properties are in suburban locations in close proximity to the main business centres, where there is long term demand for business accommodation to serve these key economic regions. The company's main activities are currently based around London, Brussels, Paris, Düsseldorf, San Francisco and San Diego and the company continues to develop new business parks with the long-term objective of building shareholder value and enhancing its reputation for quality buildings offering excellent value to customers.