BEVERLY HILLS, CA—Kennedy-Wilson Holdings said Friday it had completed its merger with Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate plc. First announced this past April, the combination creates an investment and asset management platform with an enterprise value of $8 billion.
“We are moving towards a simplified corporate structure that provides more recurring income from stable property cash flows and greater upside potential from value-enhancing initiatives worldwide,” says William J. McMorrow, KW's chairman and CEO, who adds that the merger represents “an exciting new chapter” for the company. The KWE platform adds 207 assets across 11.4 million square feet to KW's portfolio, and is expected to generate $200 million in NOI annually.
Although office will represent 36.2% of the combined portfolio by asset class, 34% of its total property NOI will come from KW's western US multifamily portfolio, according to the company's most recent investor presentation on the merger. By geography, slightly more than half will be located across the UK and Ireland.
KWE was established in 2011 and spun off as a separately publicly traded company in a 2014 public offering, trading on the London Stock Exchange. KW's leadership team has acted as the external asset manager for KWE since the IPO. The senior management team, including KWE president and CEO Mary Ricks, and all operations in the US and Europe remain in place.
In connection with the merger, Goldman Sachs acted as lead financial adviser to KW, and BofA Merrill Lynch also served as a financial adviser to the firm. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal advisor in the US to KW, Macfarlanes LLP acted as UK legal advisor to KW and Ogier served as Jersey legal advisor to KW. The merger was an all-stock transaction in accordance with Article 125 of the Jersey Companies Law.
For KWE's independent directors, Rothschild acted as lead financial adviser and J.P. Morgan Cazenove acted as financial adviser. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as legal advisor to KWE in the US and UK, while Appleby served as Jersey legal advisor to KWE.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
