US logistics giant Prologis has intensified its pursuit of Segro, taking a rejected £12.6 billion ($16.9 billion) all-stock approach directly to the UK company’s shareholders as a hard takeover deadline closes in. The move keeps one of the most recognisable names in UK industrial real estate — the country’s largest publicly traded property company — in play in a contested transatlantic deal that echoes the wider drift of mid- and large-cap names off the London market.
Deal mechanics
The indicative proposal is structured as an all-share combination and implied a premium of roughly 25 percent to Segro’s undisturbed price before the approach. Segro’s board unequivocally rejected the offer in late June, arguing it fails to reflect the quality, scarcity and growth of the portfolio, and Prologis has since published an investor case urging shareholders to press the board to engage. A central part of the pitch is Segro’s data-centre pipeline, which Prologis says its dedicated data-centre and energy teams could monetise more effectively. If completed, it would be Prologis’s largest transaction since its $26 billion purchase of Duke Realty in 2022.
Chairman Andy Harrison said Prologis was trying to acquire Segro “on the cheap.” — Segro plc
The clock — and the London question
Under Rule 2.6(a) of the UK Takeover Code, Prologis must by 5:00 pm London time on July 22 either announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away, a put-up-or-shut-up deadline that now frames the next fortnight. Some investors want more: Jupiter Fund Management has said the offer sits slightly below the value of Segro’s underlying assets, and Segro’s board maintains its standalone case can deliver superior value. Beyond the specific terms, the bid lands amid an active policy debate in London about the steady migration of listed names off the LSE — a backdrop that will not be lost on the next UK-listed company to field an inbound approach.
