Prologis To Buy DCT Industrial For $8.4 Bln

(RTTNews) - Prologis Inc. (PLD) Sunday said it agreed to buy logistics provider DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (DCT) for $8.4 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction, including the assumption of debt.

The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction.

DCT shareholders will receive 1.02 Prologis shares for each DCT share they own. The transaction, which is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, is subject to the approval of DCT stockholders and other customary closing conditions.

"For some time, we have considered DCT's realigned portfolio to be the most complementary to our own in terms of product quality, market position and growth potential," said Prologis chairman and chief executive officer Hamid Moghadam.

"This high level of strategic fit will allow us to capture significant scale economies immediately. In addition, our current platform initiatives, particularly in the areas of advanced analytics, customer experience and procurement and ancillary revenues, will enable us to extract significant upside from the combined portfolios."

The transaction is anticipated to create substantial synergies, including near-term synergies of approximately $80 million in corporate general and administrative cost savings, operating leverage, interest expense and lease adjustments, which are forecast to increase annual stabilized core funds from operations per share by $0.06-$0.08.