Whitestone REIT Offered $750M in Takeover Bid

MCB Real Estate has offered to buy Houston-based Whitestone REIT for just over $750 million. Coupled with Whitestone’s roughly $667 million in debt, the new offer values the total deal at about $1.45 billion.

Whitestone operates 57 shopping centers in Texas and Arizona, totaling 5.1 million square feet of gross leasable area. At the end of the second quarter, the company’s properties had an occupancy rate of 93.5%, up slightly from 93.3% in the second quarter of 2023.

The Houston Business Journal reports MCB had previously tried to buy Whitestone at $14 a share in early June, but the REIT’s board rebuffed that roughly $700 million proposal.

MCB is Whitestone’s third-largest shareholder, with a 9.4% stake in the company. Its latest takeover offer represents a 14.5% premium over Whitestone’s share price on June 3, prior to MCB’s first offer. Whitestone’s stock closed at $14.34 per share, up 6.46%, on Oct. 9 following the news of MCB’s latest offer.