Takeover alert hoists Derwent

PROPERTY magnate Leo Noe is primed for a £410m takeover of a London office developer with sites across the capital from Paddington to the former Companies House building on Old Street roundabout.

Derwent Valley Holdings chairman John Ivey was today meeting REIT Asset Management, advisers to Noe and his family, to discuss a 'possible offer for the entire share capital of Derwent'.

The stock market value of Derwent shot up £22m to £395m as the shares rose 41 1/2p to 744p.

Property companies, however, tend to be valued in line with their break-up value which, in Derwent's case, CSFB analysts recently priced at 768p per share, or £410m.

REIT partner Kevin McGrath said he could only comment on value after today's meeting. REIT and Noe are understood to have sufficient financing in place to fund what is effectively a move into the London office market.

McGrath said: 'We have been making a strategic push into central London and offices offer good value over the medium to long term. The approach to Derwent Valley is a further extension of that strategy.'

Noe has built up a 2.87% stake in Derwent over the past couple of months through Winten, a buying company for his family's Gibraltar-based trust funds, Trafalgar Overseas.

REIT has been an aggressive buyer of offices and UK shopping centres over the past couple of years on behalf of the Noes. It is in exclusive talks, again for Noe, with Taylor Woodrow over the £290m purchase of St Katharine Docks near Tower Bridge.