Market Turmoil Threatens Mission West Deal

Mission West Properties, Cupertino, Calif., has reported that previously announced negotiations with an unnamed potential buyer are unlikely to bear fruit because of debt market disruptions, but that three other potential buyers with internal sources of financing are conducting due diligence.The real estate investment trust reported in July that it was negotiating a deal with a "leading real estate private equity fund" to acquire its common shares at $13.55 per share in cash. Those negotiations are continuing, but "closure is unlikely" due to the withdrawal of their primary and secondary lenders from the market, the industrial REIT said. "The potential buyer had completed substantially all of their due diligence and had agreed to the terms of the definitive merger agreement when they were notified by their lender, one of the top five U.S. banks, that they were withdrawing from the market and would not issue their previously agreed-upon financial commitment to the buyer," the REIT said. Mission West can be found online at http://www.missionwest.com.