The combined group will have a €21.7bn (£14.7bn) portfolio that currently yields €974m (£662m) of net rental income.
Unibail’s chief executive, Guillaume Poitrinal, will head the merged company and be based in the
Rodamco’s chairman Robert van Oordt will retain his position at the company.
Rodamco’s chief executive Maarten Hulshoff will leave the company once the deal is complete.
The proposal values each Rodamco share at €124.80 (£84.9) based on Unibail’s closing share price of €235.50 (£160) as of 5 April 2007, also representing a 15% premium to Unibail’s and Rodamco’s closing prices on that day.
The merger will be implemented via an exchange offer by Unibail consisting of 0.53 of a Unibail common share for every Rodamco share.
Rodamco said the transaction had the backing of Stichting Pensioenfonds PGGM, which owns 25% of the Dutch company.
It also had the unanimous backing of the boards of both companies, except for Terry Dornbush, who resigned from Rodamco’s board.
“Today, we announce a combination with Rodamco that will create the leading pan-European commercial property company with a unique pan-European footprint and an unrivalled portfolio of prime commercial assets,” said Poitrinal.
