Segro rejects Prologis’s $16.6 billion takeover bid

Prologis ↗0.99% disclosed a £12.6 billion unsolicited bid for Segro, offering 0.084 new shares per Segro share at an implied 925 pence.wsj
Segro’s board rejected the proposal on Monday; the company has been expanding its European data centre portfolio to capitalize on AI-driven demand.reuters
Prologis used the same playbook in its 2022 Duke Realty takeover, returning with a higher bid after an initial rejection.wsj

Segro Rejects £12.6 Billion Prologis Takeover Bid

Segro, the UK warehouse and logistics landlord, has rejected an unsolicited all-share takeover proposal from Prologis, the world’s largest industrial property owner, in what would have been one of the biggest real estate deals in recent years.

The Offer

Prologis disclosed on Tuesday that it had approached Segro with a combination proposal valuing the London-listed firm at approximately £12.6 billion ($16.6 billion). Under the terms, Segro shareholders would have received 0.084 new Prologis shares for each Segro share held, implying a price of 925 pence per share — a roughly 25% premium over Segro’s closing price, according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposal was made on June 16, and Segro’s board “unequivocally rejected” it on June 23, Prologis said.wsj

Prologis stated it sees “a clear strategic rationale for a combination” and urged Segro to engage in discussions. The U.S. firm, which manages roughly 1.2 billion square feet of logistics space globally, has a track record of pursuing large all-stock acquisitions in the warehouse sector, having completed a $26 billion takeover of Duke Realty in 2022 after an initial rejection.wealthmanagement

Segro’s Independent Strategy

The rejection comes as Segro pursues its own growth path. In April, CEO David Sleath told Reuters the company was intensifying its data centre expansion across Europe, identifying sites in France, Germany, Italy, and Poland to capitalize on surging demand from artificial intelligence investments. Data centre operators already account for about 7% of Segro’s client base.reuters

The bid also arrives weeks after activist investor Lauro Asset Management urged Segro to spin off its data centre business into a separate entity, arguing that the London stock market was “undervaluing” that high-growth division.bebeez

A Familiar Playbook

Prologis has repeatedly used unsolicited all-stock offers to consolidate the global warehouse sector. Its 2022 pursuit of Duke Realty followed an identical pattern — an initial bid rejected as “insufficient” before a sweetened offer secured agreement. Whether Prologis returns with an improved proposal for Segro remains to be seen; under UK takeover rules, the company now faces a deadline to either make a formal offer or walk away.reuters

Segro shares trade on the FTSE 100 and the company operates across the UK and seven other European countries, managing a portfolio focused on urban logistics warehouses and increasingly on data centre-ready sites.