The bid battle for Tritax EuroBox (EBOX ) has taken a new turn, with the real estate investment trust (Reit) accepting a counter cash offer from Canadian alternative assets giant Brookfield and dropping its previous recommendation for an all-share offer from warehouse developer Segro'>Segro (SGRO).

Taking advantage of a 5% fall in Segro’s share price since its offer was accepted on 4 September, Brookfield has pounced with a £557m cash offer of 69p per share. This is 6%, or 3.9p, more than the 65.1p-per-share value of Segro’s bid at yesterday’s close. When Segro made its offer it was worth 68.4p, just 1% less than Brookfield’s bid.

Although pitched 28% above EuroBox’s 53.8p share price on 31 May before it was put up for sale, in euros it offers 12% less than the valuation of the European logistics portfolio with a price of 82.4 cents per share against its net asset value of 93.9 cents at 31 March.

EuroBox chair Robert Orr said the board was ‘intensely focused’ on delivering value for shareholders.

While both offers were similarly deliverable, Brookfield’s cash offer provided more certainty for investors compared with the continued market risk of further falls in Segro’s shares.

‘The cash offer from Brookfield represents a premium to the current value of the Segro offer and ensures Tritax EuroBox shareholders will benefit from a significant uplift over the undisturbed value of their investment with flexibility to reinvest as they see fit,’ Orr said.

Brad Hyler, Brookfield’s head of real estate in Europe, said his team had ‘tracked and admired’ the high quality and strategically placed assets of EuroBox for some time and had been in talks with the company since June.

‘These assets are complementary to our existing portfolio and, using our global real estate expertise, we will actively manage these assets, provide access to capital, help build new relationships with our network of tenants and support the overall growth of the platform,’ he said.

In response, Segro said its offer ‘would enable Tritax EuroBox shareholders to retain exposure to the European industrial and logistics sector at this point in the cycle, in the largest and most liquid Reit in Europe, or realise their position for cash given the significant liquidity in Segro’s shares.’

It said it would make a further announcement if appropriate, holding out the door to an improved offer.

Tritax EuroBox shares rose 2.9% to 71.1p, above Brookfield’s offer, in anticipation of a further bid, although Adnrew Rees thought it unlikely Segro would stretch itself to beat the cash offer.

Segro shares firmed 0.8p to 837.6p.