Activist ENKRAFT takes 1.5% stake in Apollo-backed AGROB - letter

Energiekontor AG

12/10/2020 14:56

FRANKFURT, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Activist fund ENKRAFT has
built a stake of more than 1.5% in German real estate firm AGROB
Immobilien  AGRG.MU , criticising the group for failing to raise
the firm's value, according to a letter to management seen by
Reuters.
    AGROB, which is 81.4%-owned by funds managed by affiliates
of private equity firm Apollo Global Management  APO.N , has a
market capitalisation of 110 million euros ($130 million), which
according to ENKRAFT significantly undervalues the group.
    Apollo funds had acquired an initial stake in AGROB from a
unit of Italy's UniCredit  CRDI.MI  last year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26H0SD
    ENKRAFT reckons that based on achievable commercial rents
and public real estate valuations, a valuation of more than 400
million euro for AGROB's portfolio is more realistic.
    "The supervisory board should encourage management to
present and implement a convincing strategy to continually raise
the value of AGROB," ENKRAFT's Benedikt Kormaier wrote.
    "Such a strategy is not visible, neither with regard to the
development of real estate assets nor with regard to the capital
structure of AGROB."
    ENKRAFT also said the company had so far failed to outline
plans for unused land lots it owns.
    Based in the municipality of Ismaning near Munich, AGROB
expands ENKRAFT's presence in Europe's largest economy, where it
already owns stakes in renewables groups PNE  PNEGn.DE ,
Energiekontor  EKTG.DE  and ABO Invest  ABOG.D .
    Munich regularly leads national rankings in terms of
Germany's real estate prices.
    AGROB Immobilien had no immediate comment.
    
($1 = 0.8463 euros)

 (Reporting by Christoph Steitz)
 ((christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 647;))