Santa Ana-based real estate investor NNN Realty Advisors Inc.’s yearlong bid to go public is set to close amid a dramatically different commercial real estate market.
NNN Realty,parent company of Triple Net Properties LLC,is nearing completion of its buy of Chicago-based brokerage Grubb & Ellis Co., which is publicly traded.
The deal was announced in May and received the go-ahead from the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month. Shareholders are set to vote on the deal at a Dec. 6 meeting in Costa Mesa.
A group of NNN Realty executives who own 28% of the company’s shares have agreed to vote in favor of the deal. A block of Grubb & Ellis shareholders with a 40% stake in their company also has said they’ll vote to approve the deal.
The acquisition could wrap up by year’s end.
The deal appears set to go through, even though the acquisition looks different than when inked in May.
Back in May, the combination was valued at $725 million, with Grubb & Ellis making up about $300 million of that.
But Grubb & Ellis’ shares have lost nearly half of their value since May,similar to drops seen by competitors after the credit crunch of this summer. The company now counts a market value of about $160 million.
It’s unclear how NNN’s valuation has changed.
After the acquisition, the combined company is set to keep the Grubb & Ellis name and continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under “GBE.” NNN Realty’s shareholders are set to own 59% of the combined company, which will be based in Santa Ana.
For more on this story, see the Nov. 26 edition of the Business Journal.
