Geneva (awp) – The real estate companies Novavest Real Estate and Senioresidenz have signed a merger contract. The real estate portfolio resulting from this operation has a total market value of 1.02 billion Swiss francs.
For each Senioresidenz share with a nominal value of 40.40 Swiss francs, shareholders will receive 0.91 registered shares of Novavest with a nominal value of 22.75 Swiss francs, we can read in a press release released on Thursday. The merger contract, signed on April 17, will be submitted to the shareholders of the two companies during extraordinary general meetings which will be held on May 28 for the first and May 29 for the second.
If approved, Senioresidenz registered shares will be delisted on June 17 from BX Swiss, while those of Novavest will remain traded on SIX.
After the exchange and conversion of the mandatory conversion loan carried out as part of the merger, the share capital of Novavest will amount to 231.4 million Swiss francs, divided into 10.17 million registered shares with a nominal value of 22.75 Swiss francs each. All new shares will give right to a dividend for the first time for the 2024 financial year.
In the same press release, Novavest announces the appointment of Thomas Sojak, current member of the board of directors of Senioresidenz, as president of the merged company. The general and financial directors of Novavest, Peter Mettler and Patrick Hauser, will remain in office.
The focus on housing is maintained with a combined pro forma residential real estate share of 59%, the statement continued. Based on this combined pro forma portfolio, the gross yield reaches 4.2% and the net yield 3.5%, while the vacancy rate is 3.1%.
At the end of 2023, the total value of Novavest’s real estate portfolio was 783.6 million and that of Senioresidenz 240.7 million.
This marriage must allow various synergies and economies of scale. Novavest recorded a net loss of 4 million last year, attributed to a depreciation of 20.6 million Swiss francs after a revaluation of the portfolio. Net rental income increased by 2% to 29.9 million.
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