"The new company will play the role of market leader in various European geographic areas," says Uniball CEO Guillaume Poitrinal, in a statement. "Capitalizing on the complementary strengths of both companies, we will be able to seize new growth opportunities and deliver enhanced returns to our shareholders." The existing retail owned by both companies services 700 consumers annually, and the merger provides rights to develop more than one msf of additional retail space, Unibail estimates.

As part of the exchange offer, Rodamco investors will be paid a 15% premium to the stock price as of closing on April 5. That amounts to a common share capital value of 11.2 billion euros, or about 124.8 euros per share as of that date. PGGM, the owner of the largest block with 25% of Rodamco shares, has expressed "strong support" for the takeover, officials involved in the merger maintain in filed documents.

To be headquartered in the Netherlands and registered in Paris, the company will have a two-tiered governance comprised of a supervisory board and a management board, the former of which will be led by Robert F.W. van Oordt, head of Rodamco's existing supervisory board. Poitrinal will be chairman of the management board and CEO of the combined group. Current Radamco CEO Maarten Hulshoff will not serve on the management board, stating that he wants to provide the leadership "all the room to fully explore the opportunities of this great new company," an entity he predicts will fare well due to its sheer might.