Go-Shop Period Ends on STORE Capital’s $14B Deal

The 30-day go-shop period for the previously announced merger agreement by STORE Capital Corp. with affiliates of GIC, a global institutional investor, and Oak Street, a Division of Blue Owl passed ended last week.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, GIC and funds managed by Oak Street have agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of STORE Capital’s common stock for $32.25 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $14 billion.

During the “go-shop” period, at the direction of the company’s board of directors, representatives of Evercore and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, financial advisors to the company, actively solicited acquisition proposals from 15 potentially interested third parties.

No third parties contacted by STORE Capital or its financial advisors, or any other third parties, have made an acquisition proposal following the execution of the merger agreement.

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2023. DLA Piper LLP (US) is acting as its legal counsel.

‘Monster’ Deal Goes Forward

STORE Capital is a net-lease real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in single tenant operational real estate.

When the deal was announced a month ago, it was said to have “woken up” the often “staid” net lease real estate sector.

Industry followers told GlobeSt.com then that this represents a “monster” transaction in the net lease sector that provides substantial additional scale to one of the largest existing players in Oak Street and a relatively new net lease investor in GIC.

At that time, David Auerbach, managing director at Armada ETF Advisors, said that the transaction “highlights the demand for net lease properties as investors seek yield in the REIT space.

“With so many net lease players, I would not have expected STORE to be the first one acquired, but the move is significant since STORE is an S&P MidCap 400 constituent and follows on the heels of the O/VER merger back in November of last year.