The great British Land grab
14 August 2009
Surprisingly The Daily Telegraph reported that an Abu Dhabi-led consortium is preparing a possible bid for British Land.
Although analysts believe the move is highly unlikely, shares in British Land PLC shares jumped 30p to 523p, other property companies also went up. What is astonishing though, is that rumours are the consortium may pay 600p per share, which would be in excess of British Land's net asset value.
Shareholders should rejoice at this news, because although I don't doubt the quality of British Land's property portfolio – which is first rate, I personally doubt that the falls in property values have finished this year. Which I suspect will have a negative effect on the asset value of British Land's properties in the future. Also there must be tax implications regarding the REIT status of any take-over of this company.
Remember as 2008 has shown, shares and other financial assets can go up and down at frightening speed. Don't buy any, unless you know what you are doing and can afford to lose the money.