ASK - Abacus Storage King

Has ASK bounced off the 1.10 support from back in April?
Feeling a bit more positive about the chart prospect but don't follow the fundamentals.

Held
Holding



DAILY

UNSOLICITED NON BINDING INDICATIVE PROPOSAL TO ACQUIRE
ABACUS STORAGE KING
Abacus Storage King (ASX:ASK) (‘ASK’) confirms that after market close on 4 April 2025, it
received a conditional and non-binding indicative proposal from Ki Corporation Limited (‘Ki’) and
Public Storage (NYSESA) (together ‘the Consortium’) to acquire all of the outstanding stapled
securities in ASK not already held by Ki or its subsidiaries,1 by way of an inter-conditional scheme of
arrangement of Abacus Storage Operations Limited (‘ASOL’) and trust scheme of Abacus Storage
Property Trust (‘ASPT’) (the ‘Indicative Proposal’).
Under the terms of the Indicative Proposal, ASK securityholders would receive A$1.47 per stapled
security, less any dividends or distributions declared after the date of the Indicative Proposal.
Following implementation of the Indicative Proposal, it is expected that Public Storage would own
approximately 50% of ASK’s securities with the balance held by Ki.
The Indicative Proposal is expressed to be subject to a number of conditions, including:
• approval from Ki’s Board Committee and Public Storage’s Board following completion of
satisfactory due diligence (which ASK has been advised is expected to take 6 weeks from being
granted access to due diligence materials, should ASK grant access);
• entry into definitive transaction documents;
• certain regulatory and other approvals, including from FIRB and the New Zealand Overseas
Investment Office (‘OIO’);
• the Consortium and ASPT obtaining a private binding ruling from the Australian tax Office (‘ATO’)
confirming ASPT would qualify as a withholding ‘Managed Investment Trust’ (‘MIT’) and would
make fund payments comprising concessional MIT income after implementation of the Indicative
Proposal, having regard to a proposed restructure of ASK’s existing arrangements with customers
as well as confirming all tax consequences and assumptions of the Indicative Proposal;
• a unanimous ASK Board recommendation and a commitment from all ASK directors to vote in
favour of the transaction (in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent
1 The Consortium has advised ASK that Ki currently holds existing direct and indirect interests in ASK of approximately 59.39%,
comprising a direct holding of 39.62%, and an indirect interest of 19.77% via its voting power in the relevant entities that comprise
ABG.
2
ASX RELEASE
expert concluding the transaction is in the best interests of ASK minority securityholders (and not
changing that conclusion));
• no material adverse change to ASK; and
• no prescribed events, regulated events or legal or regulatory restraints occurring.
The Consortium have advised that as part of the Indicative Proposal, they would seek to transfer all
ASK management arrangements currently undertaken by Abacus Group (‘Abacus’) to ASK.
ASK has formed an independent board committee consisting of ASK’s independent directors and it
has commenced an assessment of the Indicative Proposal but has not at this stage formed any view on
its merits.
ASK securityholders should not take any action in relation to the Indicative Proposal at this stage.
ASK will provide further updates to the market as appropriate.
ASK has appointed King & Wood Mallesons as its legal adviser and Macquarie Capital (Australia)
Limited as its financial adviser.
END
Authorised for release by the Board of ASK

i hold ASK ( but MIGHT reduce on this news if the price is high enough )

update of take-over offer

i hold ASK

NOTIFICATION OF NEW SECURITY HOLDING

i hold ASK

a counter-offer or a blocking stake in the making ?

*DJ National Storage REIT: No Current Intention to Bid for Abacus Storage King

LOL just minutes apart





take it with a pinch of salt .. this was put in my news-feed under NST

thank goodness i don't pay for a subscription

National Storage REIT announced that the Company has acquired a 4.78% interest in Abacus Storage King (ASK).
This acquisition follows the announcement by ASK on 7 April 2025 regarding a conditional and non-binding indicative proposal from Ki Corporation (Ki) and Public Storage (collectively, the Consortium).

ASK @ 1.44 intraday

Held
Holding

WEEKLY All Data

Self-storage operator National Storage REIT has bought a 4.78 per cent take in its listed rival Abacus Storage King, in a move that could potentially thwart a $1.9 billion takeover proposal for it by a South African billionaire.

Abacus this month received a conditional takeover proposal from a consortium formed between Nathan Kirsh’s family office, Ki Corporation, and New York-listed giant, Public Storage. Kirsh already controls 59.47 per cent of the register of Abacus Storage King.

I was curious on everyone's thoughts of investing in storage king as a long term investment. I like the idea. People are running out of space and storage units will always be a thing in my opinion and it provides good value to people.

Though looking at the financials they don't look healthy as a company. They are Down 92% in 2023 due to asset devaluation and down 31% in 2024 (-$143 million , impacted by property revaluations), (over 1b in debt!),

2025 report (down only $5.7 million in statutory net loss) - They also have $2,776.1m in assets (subject to change in valuation), and $1,030.4m in liabilities.

The thing is even if they didn't lose that $143m, they still would be in the negative (I think it was down 45% compared to 95%). Seems like it would be a bad investment at this stage as they haven't generated a profit in a few years.

The debt isn't a huge worry in the sense that they have plenty of assets that can cover that (I think it was $1.5b in assets and $1b in liabilities), though that defeats the purpose of a profitable and quality business to invest in.

I'm quite rusty on the value investing side of things, but was getting back into it. Just remembered how boring it was reading all those annual reports lol.

Any thoughts?

RbNEO said:

everyone's thoughts of investing in storage king

Click to expand...

Too hard - but why would you be thinking of buying when the price is at an all-time high and under proposal for a takeover?

Held
Holding

RbNEO said:

I was curious on everyone's thoughts of investing in storage king as a long term investment. I like the idea. People are running out of space and storage units will always be a thing in my opinion and it provides good value to people.

Though looking at the financials they don't look healthy as a company. They are Down 92% in 2023 due to asset devaluation and down 31% in 2024 (-$143 million , impacted by property revaluations), (over 1b in debt!),

2025 report (down only $5.7 million in statutory net loss) - They also have $2,776.1m in assets (subject to change in valuation), and $1,030.4m in liabilities.

The thing is even if they didn't lose that $143m, they still would be in the negative (I think it was down 45% compared to 95%). Seems like it would be a bad investment at this stage as they haven't generated a profit in a few years.

The debt isn't a huge worry in the sense that they have plenty of assets that can cover that (I think it was $1.5b in assets and $1b in liabilities), though that defeats the purpose of a profitable and quality business to invest in.

I'm quite rusty on the value investing side of things, but was getting back into it. Just remembered how boring it was reading all those annual reports lol.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

i added at and shortly after the demerger ( and got some because of the demerger )

as a standalone REIT i was very interested , but now i think the take-over proposal will be compelling to most holders , i would be happy to hold on to this , but i don't think there is enough resistance to help me block this .

as stated earlier i will be happy to hold and buy more in the big dips , but i think the take-over will go through

and YES i am in a very nice profit , just a shame it is likely to be crystallized before the year's end

finicky said:

Too hard - but why would you be thinking of buying when the price is at an all-time high and under proposal for a takeover?

Held
Holding

Click to expand...

indeed 'investing ' now implies gambling the take-over will fail OR a better offer will arrive

not a gamble i will be making

finicky said:

Too hard - but why would you be thinking of buying when the price is at an all-time high and under proposal for a takeover?

Held
Holding

Click to expand...

In regards to this, figuring out the intrinsic value of a stock isn't something I've been able to figure out, but does it matter if it's technically at an all time high if it happens to be under its intrinsic value?

divs4ever said:

i added at and shortly after the demerger ( and got some because of the demerger )

as a standalone REIT i was very interested , but now i think the take-over proposal will be compelling to most holders , i would be happy to hold on to this , but i don't think there is enough resistance to help me block this .

as stated earlier i will be happy to hold and buy more in the big dips , but i think the take-over will go through

and YES i am in a very nice profit , just a shame it is likely to be crystallized before the year's end

Click to expand...

I'll get back to you on this.

Well sentiment matters I think - as reflected in the share price - and as you you imply, intrinsic value is a guesstimate anyway. I for one wouldn't even try it with a reit although a few here would. I just bought it on a recommendation and the appearance of value - going by the distribution yield at the time and discount to bv. Just luck that it's turned out ok

RbNEO said:

In regards to this, figuring out the intrinsic value of a stock isn't something I've been able to figure out, but does it matter if it's technically at an all time high if it happens to be under its intrinsic value?

Click to expand...

intrinsic value on a REIT is very much notional

do you value each site as a going enterprise , estimated property value ( includes empty buildings/and fittings ) or the unimproved value of the land

the stock price and it's 'value 'rating ' would depend on income/profit ( after discounting the existing debt ) generated and the asset value

but yes it matters to me , as i have to guess at the future revenue of the business ( and it's profitability ) IF the business goes bad , i have to wait to see if i get any capital return when the properties are sold

finicky said:

I just bought it on a recommendation and the appearance of value - going by the distribution yield at the time and discount to bv. Just luck that it's turned out ok

Click to expand...

i was already a holder of the parent company , in fact before they started public storage assets , so had a reasonable feel of the parent company , and saw public storage as a potential growth path ( and could never get my target price for NSR )

so when i was buying , the distribution yield was totally a forecast ( at demerger ) or before the they had even bought the storage assets ... but i could see the storage theme could work as home owners/renters downsized their residences as rising costs bite their budgets

Self-storage is a $20 billion industry and business is relatively straightforward: a mix of big players and family operators, who have a combined 697,000 storage units for lease across more than 2000 sites.

Nearly nine in 10 of the units are occupied as users pay an average $380 per square metre a year to park their stuff. One in 10 adult Australians use self-storage, according to the industry association.

Self-storage stores emerged in Australia in the 1970s and are now big business. Two of the three big players – National Storage REIT and Storage King – are listed on the ASX, while the third is Kennards.
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Abacus Storage King, which owns 126 storage sites and manages or licenses another 75, and with $3.3 billion in assets, is in play after a dud corporate deal left it illiquid, unloved and wrapped up in an out-of-fashion, externally managed structure two years ago. Its shares were trading at a 28 per cent discount to asset backing a month ago before some familiar faces came to clean up the mess.

The bid by Public Storage and Ki Corp was lobbed at a 26.7 per cent premium to the then-traded price. Abacus Storage King responded by setting up a board committee, activating bankers and lawyers and is revaluing its properties – all standard stuff.

The problem is, the offer is cheap. The pair wants to buy the rest of Abacus Storage King for $1.47 a share, or 8 per cent less than Abacus Storage King’s net tangible asset backing on 31 December.

divs4ever said:

i added at and shortly after the demerger ( and got some because of the demerger )

as a standalone REIT i was very interested , but now i think the take-over proposal will be compelling to most holders , i would be happy to hold on to this , but i don't think there is enough resistance to help me block this .

as stated earlier i will be happy to hold and buy more in the big dips , but i think the take-over will go through

and YES i am in a very nice profit , just a shame it is likely to be crystallized before the year's end

Click to expand...

That makes sense, but what about the fact that they aren't a profitable business? Are you betting on them performing well eventually in the future or am I missing something?

RbNEO said:

.. what about the fact that they aren't a profitable business?

Click to expand...

Are you referring to HY24 when property devaluations ate up all NPAT? That isn't the case for HY25 and guidance for the full year is a profit. They were still able to pay a normal looking distribution too in HY24 since the devaluations were non-cash.

RbNEO said:

That makes sense, but what about the fact that they aren't a profitable business? Are you betting on them performing well eventually in the future or am I missing something?

Click to expand...

yes , unless they make a strategic error like expanding too quickly or expanding in the wrong areas ( and that is always a risk )

having been a customer of a different storage company for a fair while back about 2000 i got to understand who uses self-storage .. this site had two bands that used their shed as storage AND a practice venue , some small businesses stored inventory ( and back up records ), then there are hobbyist/collectors and those moving between residences ) and that is just what i noticed accessing my lockup

i think self-storage has a better future than lesser positioned office space or smaller retail shopping strips/malls

BUT they are NOT a large part of my portfolio ( so far )

and despite my willingness to hold long term ( unless ABG blocks it with their 20% holding and a few loyalists like me ) i think the deal will go through

BTW you would be amazed how many businesses can't make a taxable profit in the first 5 years