The diversified property group Charter Hall has shaken up the real estate investment trust sector with a management takeover of the remaining, bombed-out Macquarie Bank satellite funds to give it a $10 billion asset platform.

Charter Hall will be the new manager of Macquarie Office (MOF) and Macquarie CountryWide (MCW) trusts.

It will be difficult for any other party to launch a complete takeover of the trusts because Charter Hall has an indefinite first right of refusal over Macquarie's remaining stakes in them - the bank still holds 6 per cent of MOF and 4 per cent of MCW.

Via a 10 per cent equity stake in Charter Hall and credit facilities, Macquarie also has a large foot in the door of the group.

Jonathan Kriska, from Patersons Securities, said it was important to understand that MCW and MOF would remain listed and that Charter Hall was buying management rights and key stakes in the funds, not delisting them and stapling them to the existing business.

The deal will increase Charter Hall's earnings per security by about 18 per cent in 2010-11 and make it the largest diversified listed trust in the country.

In a complex scheme, worth $315 million, Charter Hall will raise $220 million in a rights issue at 70 cents, plus an additional $85 million through a placement to Macquarie Bank, at the same price, in return for a 10 per cent stake in Charter Hall.

There is also a $10 million Macquarie Bank debt facility.

Charter Hall's joint managing director, David Harrison, said the Macquarie stake was not in escrow but he was confident the bank was a long-term shareholder and the stake would not be an overhang on Charter Hall's price. To help fund the deal, the investor John Gandel will take up $68 million of the issue to retain his 12.2 per cent stake in Charter Hall.

The deal will see Charter Hall, once a small- to medium-sized developer and fund manager; emerge with a portfolio of more than 300 properties across Australia and North America.

Mr Harrison said all senior management and staff at the trusts had been offered positions at Charter Hall, which would take the group's workforce to about 220 people, all to be located at Charter Hall offices.

''The general view among institutional investors that we have canvassed is that this is a bottom-of-the-cycle deal that will give all unit-holders a larger, majority Australian-focused fund,'' said Mr Harrison.

Source: SMH