Segro, the FTSE 100 warehouse landlord, has reversed course and agreed to recommend a £14bn takeover offer from its larger US rival, Prologis, after rejecting three earlier approaches over the past month. The board said it had "unanimously concluded" it would back the "best and final offer", made just hours before a regulatory deadline, in what would rank among the largest foreign takeovers of a UK-listed firm and marks a further setback for London's stock market.

Prologis's revised bid offers 0.092 new shares per Segro share, valuing the company at £10.32 a share, 9.5% above its initial June approach. Segro shareholders would also receive a dividend, and the company has asked Prologis to maintain a secondary London listing. The "put up or shut up" deadline has been extended by three weeks to 12 August, with the reversal following pressure from major investor Norges Bank, which holds stakes in both firms. Segro, tracing its roots to 1920s Slough, now owns 10.9m sq m of space across Europe, including a major datacentre portfolio, having previously seen its shares soar in the pandemic before falling around 40% from their peak.