Elanor says Lederer bid for its commercial property fund lacks detail
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The news: Elanor Investor Group has slammed an "opportunistic" bid from Lederer group to acquire its commercial property fund at the bottom of the business cycle, as Elanor's independent board committee chair Ian Mackie argued the offer “lacks essential detail”.
The context: Lederer lobbed an off-market takeover bid for the Elanor Commercial Property Fund on 4 August. Elanor's independent board committee is recommending that shareholders reject the offer.
On Monday, the Elanor Commercial Property Fund (ECF) published an investor presentation that reiterated its rejection of the offer and offered greater detail on eight points.
Mackie, who is also chair of the ECF, said Lederer Group’s offer “lacks essential detail” on how it would manage the fund and who the fund manager would be.
He said these are “no small matters for a listed fund and not providing the appropriate detail to securityholders is leaving an information void”. The investor presentation flags that Lederer has no track record of managing A-REITs.
Mackie also reiterated the view that Lederer’s offer undervalues the ECF, given the “commercial office market is at a cyclical low, and appears poised for a valuation upswing with signs of returning occupancy momentum, improving leasing activity, forecast interest rate cuts and renewed investor confidence”.
As such, he said that Lederer's offer price is “well below precedent”, does not include a premium that reflects the value of controlling the company and that the ECF has outperformed the ASX A-REIT Office Index by 16.6% between December 2019 and August 2025.
The deal would also mean security holders “will not participate in the sector recovery’.
The sources: ASX, Elanor Investor Group media release
