Unite Makes £710 Million Bid for Rival Empiric Student Property

Unite Group Plc has made a non-binding bid to buy rival UK student landlord Empiric Student Property.

The company made an initial approach on May 7 and has since revised its bid, offering 30 pence in cash and 0.09 new Unite shares for each Empiric share, the target company said in a statement Thursday.

Based on Unite’s closing share price of 855.5 pence on June 4, the proposal values each Empiric share at 107 pence. It values the entire company at about £710 million ($964 million), according to Bloomberg calculations.

Investor demand for larger more cost efficient companies ...