Vivion-Led Group Bids for NorthStar Realty Europe

(Bloomberg) -- A consortium led by Vivion Capital Partners SA is bidding for NorthStar Realty Europe Corp., a real estate investment trust exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

Negotiations are ongoing and there’s no certainty that a deal will be reached, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t private.

NorthStar Realty Europe rose 6.2% to close at $16.25 in New York on Thursday, giving it a market value of about $818 million. Its shares are up about 13% in the past year.

The company, managed by an affiliate of Colony Capital Inc., announced in November that it had retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore options including a sale after a major shareholder urged it to sell assets and return cash to investors.

The deadline for that strategic review is now June 30, one of the people said.

Representatives for Vivion, NorthStar Realty Europe and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

NorthStar Realty Europe has $1.2 billion of mainly office properties in Germany, France and the U.K., according to its website.

Vivion’s backers include the family of Israeli real estate investor Amir Dayan. The firm also bought a portfolio of Holiday Inn hotels last year from Apollo Global Management LLC.

Axa SA and Schroders Plc were among bidders for NorthStar Realty Europe, people familiar with the matter said in April. Representatives for Axa and Schroders declined to comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Eyk Henning in Frankfurt at ehenning1@bloomberg.net;Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net;Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks

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