AIM-listed Fabian Romania to be taken over

The company this morning revealed it had agreed a takeover from Romanian architect-turned-entrepreneur Dinu Patriciu, who last month built up a 25.2% holding in Fabian.

Patriciu’s Black Sea Global Properties Group is paying E1 a share in cash for Fabian, which is a huge 40% discount to its 30 September net asset value of E1.66 a share, although a 93% premium to Fabian’s closing share price last night of E0.52. However, Fabian said that because of the lack of investment transactions in Romania, there could be ‘no certainty that the yields which were used in determining the NAV accurately reflected the open market’.

‘Our cash offer provides certainty to Fabian Romania shareholders during a period of significant economic turmoil and as the price of real estate assets in Romania continues to fall,’ said Patriciu.

‘Our investment in Fabian Romania allows us to fulfill my long held ambition to create a platform on which we can build a property company that will acquire and develop assets in Romania.’

If its offer is successful, Black Sea Global will retain Fabian’s external manager, Fabian Capital, which is run by Mark Holdsworth, and, subject to regulatory approval, its AIM and Bermuda Stock Exchange listings.

Black Sea Global is wholly owned by Patriciu’s RPH, which has more than $1bn (£664m) of properties, which it either owns or manages, in Europe.

Together with his brother, Patriciu developed the first sites in Romania for large retail chains, including Billa and Minimax. Patriciu is currently developing, together with Immorent, a 1.6m sq ft office and residential project in the north of Bucharest, known as Smart City.

Patriciu, a qualified architect, is also the CEO of Netherlands-based  Rompetrol Group, which he founded and developed into the second largest oil company in Romania. He sold a 75% stake in Rompetrol last year at an enterprise value of $3.6bn (£2.39bn).