Abrdn trust to strike £350m deal with Travelodge owner

Abrdn Property Income fund is in “advanced discussions” to sell almost all of its portfolio to fund managed by Travelodge owner, Goldentree Asset Management.

The £227m investment trust saw a bid from Custodian Property Income REIT voted down earlier this year, leaving the trust to begin winding down.

Only 60.8 per cent of Abrdn shareholders voted in favour of the deal, less than the required 75 per cent threshold.

Last month, the trust said it would be seeking a “single transaction” to offload most of its assets as part of closing up shop.

No offer received from Abrdn

The rumoured price agreed for the portfolio sale to the Travelodge owner is around £350m, a discount of 13.7 per cent to the most recent valuation of the Abrdn portfolio a few months ago (£405.5m), but 35 per cent higher than the trust’s current market cap.

However, the trust said in a stock exchange notice yesterday that any sale would not include the disposal of its interest in its stake in land in Far Ralia, Scotland, which was valued on the books at around £10m in June.

Excluding this, a sale price of £350m would represent a discount of 11.5 per cent, or a premium of 38 per cent to its market cap.

The board of the trust went on to say that “there can be no certainty that any binding sale agreement will be entered into, nor as to the terms on which any transaction may occur”.

It added: “Abrdn Property Income has not received any offer in respect of the issued share capital of Abrdn Property Income.”

Since the news was announced of a potential sale, the trust’s share price has spiked five per cent, and it is up 14 per cent since the start of the year.

GoldenTree Asset Management is the team behind the failed IPO of Special Opportunities REIT earlier this year.