LondonMetric to buy A&J Mucklow in £414 million deal

(Reuters) - Warehouse owner LondonMetric Property said on Thursday it had agreed to buy real estate investment trust A & J Mucklow in a cash and stock deal that values the Midlands-based peer at 414.7 million pounds.

Under the terms of the deal, Mucklow shareholders will be entitled to receive 2.19 new LondonMetric shares and 204.5 pence in cash, the companies said in a joint statement.

The cash and stock terms values each Mucklow share at 655.2 pence, the companies said, which represents a 19.6% premium to the company's close on Wednesday.

The directors at Mucklow consider the terms of the combination to be "fair and reasonable", the companies said, adding that they intend to unanimously recommend that Mucklow shareholders vote in favour of the deal.

LondonMetric said the deal was supported by various members of the Mucklow family, which together owns about 19.36% in the target company.

LondonMetric said it has also got the backing from shareholders Unicorn Asset Management, TR Property Investment Trust and Wesleyan Assurance Society.

LondonMetric received financial advice from Peel Hunt and J.P. Morgan Cazenove in relation to the deal, while Numis Securities acted as financial adviser to Mucklow.

(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham and Jason Neely)