Eimskip Completes CDN$385 Million Sale Leaseback of Refrigerated Warehouse Facilities in US & Canada

Eimskip - October 1, 2007

Eimskip has completed the sale of 23 Public Refrigerated Warehouse Facilities located in the U.S. and Canada for gross proceeds of CDN$ 385 million. The net proceeds were used to repay the acquisition debt incurred in connection with the acquisition of Atlas Cold Storage, which was completed in November 2006.

In the last 12 months Eimskip has acquired both Atlas Cold Storage, which is the second largest cold storage company in North America and Versacold, which is the third largest cold storage company in North America. Eimskip has gained a leading position globally in cold storage operation with close to 200 cold storages in five continents.

The combined annual turnover of Atlas Cold Storage and Versacold is approx. CDN$ 1,200 million with 120 cold storages in operation in US, Canada, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Atlas Cold Storage and Versacold combined employ 8,500 people.

The total acquisition cost of Atlas Cold Storage and Versacold amounted to CDN$ 1,800 million. As part of their operations both of these companies had substantial real estate holdings in the US, Canada, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. CBRE, an international real estate services company, has estimated that the total value of these properties to be approximately CDN$ 1,600 million.

Eimskip has now completed the sale of a quarter of these properties, and received gross proceeds of CDN$ 385 million. All of the sold facilities were leased back by Atlas Cold Storage for approximately 20 years. The net proceeds were used to repay the Canadian acquisition debt incurred in connection with the acquisition of Atlas Cold Storage, which was completed in November 2006.

Eimskip is currently working on the sale of the remaining properties.

Baldur Gudnason, CEO of Eimskip:
“We believe the sale of Atlas’ properties is an important milestone in further development of Atlas Cold Storage’s and Versacold’s operations. The operation is running according to plan, and with the sale of these properties, key management can focus on its key competencies, providing world class cold storage services to its customers. Lately, Eimskip has been building an effective transportation network in temperature controlled goods worldwide and currently controls a 13%-15% share of the global cold storage market.

The realized value of the properties now sold were above our expectations, especially in light of the difficult current situation in the financial markets. We view this excellent result as a very positive sign for our future plans. We have delivered on our plan to repay the acquisition debt incurred in the connection with the acquisition of Atlas Cold Storage and to focus Atlas Cold Storage on its core operating activities”.

RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group acted for Eimskip in this matter and Toronto-based KingSett Capital worked with Eimskip to structure this transaction. Sphere: Related Content