Extra Space to Merge With Life Storage in a $12.7B Deal

Extra Space Storage (EXR:US) announced yesterday that its bid to buy smaller rival Life Storage (LSI:US) has been accepted by the latter’s board.

The all-stock deal will see LSI shareholders get 0.8950 of an Extra Space share for each Life Storage share they own. This translates into a price of $145.82 per LSI for each share.

Upon closing, the new company will be owned 65% by Extra Space shareholders and 35% by Life Storage shareholders. Once LSI is incorporated, EXR is expected to have a total enterprise value of roughly $47 billion, the company said. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.

"We are impressed with the management team's strategic repositioning of the Life Storage portfolio over the last seven years, creating a highly diversified portfolio of quality storage assets in strong growth markets," said Extra Space CEO Joe Margolis. 

“Together with Extra Space, we expect to accelerate growth while maintaining our customer-centric focus and commitment to continued innovation,” added Joseph Saffire, Chief Executive Officer of Life Storage.

Margolis will remain CEO and Director while Kenneth Woolley will remain Chairman of the Board. Life Storage will nominate 3 directors to the EXR’s board.

The announcement comes after Rep. Ro Khanna sold some EXR shares in January, in addition to selling shares of Public Storage (PSA:US), the largest company in the storage space. Congressman Khana was also selling Life Storage shares back in November.