Round Hill Capital announces agreement in principle with Deutsche Annington Immobilien se regarding integration of Vitus Group.

Round Hill Capital (“Round Hill”) today announces that certain shareholders of the Vitus Group (“Vitus” / the “Company”), a German multifamily residential housing company with over 40,000 residential units under management, have reached an agreement in principle with Deutsche Annington Immobilien SE (“DAIG”) regarding the integration of Vitus into DAIG’s residential property portfolio.

Investors in the Company are expected to receive a total consideration valuing the Vitus group and its holding companies at approximately €1.5bn, comprising cash, shares, the assumption of certain liabilities and the repayment of third party debt. The agreement in principle is subject to certain conditions to closing (including satisfactory fulfilment of existing arrangements with financing parties) and contains rights of rescission for both parties in the event that the parties will not agree on certain open items. The agreement in principle is also subject to the approval of cartel offices and certain shareholders of the Company. Completion of the transaction is planned for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Round Hill manages the investment vehicle which acquired the Company in 2007. Since acquisition, Round Hill has made a number of significant improvements to the Vitus portfolio, which has included centralising and consolidating the management of the entire portfolio into a single in-house management platform, increased EBITDA by over 20% and decreased vacancy on the portfolio by 30% while simultaneously increasing rent by an average of over 2.50% per year over the past three years.

Commenting on the transaction, Michael Bickford, Founder and Managing Director of Round Hill, said:

“Since acquiring Vitus in 2007, we significantly improved the quality of the underlying assets within the portfolio and restructured the entire operational platform for improved efficiency and performance. The envisaged integration of Vitus into the Deutsche Annington group is in line with our strategy to exit the portfolio, following a period of intense progress across the portfolio.”