$Public Storage(PSA-N)$ PSA and Ki Corporation have submitted a non-binding indicative offer to acquire Abacus Storage King for A$1.47 per stapled security. Particularly, PSA and Ki aim for the acquisition of all outstanding stapled securities of Abacus that are not held by Ki Group, Abacus’ major security holder.

The transaction, if materializes, would result in each of Public Storage and Ki holding approximately 50% interest in Abacus Storage King, which is one of the largest self-storage owners in Australia and New Zealand. Abacus has roughly 126 operating properties, 21 development sites and 75 managed/licensed properties.

Building on its successful partnership with Shurgard Self Storage Limited in Europe, Public Storage would bring its expertise and extensive competitive advantages to support Abacus Storage King in elevating the customer experience, optimizing operations, expanding ancillary businesses and driving portfolio growth.

This international expansion appears strategically aligned, as Australia and New Zealand offer an established, fast-growing self-storage market supported by robust population growth, solid economic fundamentals and increasing consumer adoption. Additionally, the region’s self-storage property ownership remains highly fragmented, presenting further opportunities for consolidation.

Final Words on Public Storage

Public Storage has been bolstering its growth through strategic acquisitions and the development of new facilities. In 2024, it acquired 22 self-storage facilities (1.7 million net rentable square feet) for $267.5 million. During the same period, the company completed development and redevelopment activities worth $343.4 million, adding 1.5 million net rentable square feet of self-storage space.

Due to such expansion efforts, as of Dec. 31, 2024, Public Storage had interests in 3,073 self-storage facilities (having around 221.3 million net rentable square feet) across 40 U.S. states and 1.0 million net rentable square feet of commercial and retail space. As of the same date, Public Storage managed 307 facilities (around 23.3 million net rentable square feet) for third parties.

Moreover, the company had a 35% common equity interest in Shurgard Self Storage SA (“Shurgard Europe”), which owned 318 self-storage facilities (comprising roughly 17 million net rentable square feet) across seven countries in Western Europe. These facilities are operating under the “Shurgard” brand name.

With solid access to capital, the company is well-poised to take advantage of any potential opportunity. In 2025, the company expects $370 million in development openings and higher acquisitions than in 2024. 

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have declined 3.7% over the past three months, wider than its industry's fall of 1.1%.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Welltower Inc. WELL and Cousins Properties Incorporated CUZ. Welltower and Cousins Properties carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Welltower’s 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $4.93, which indicates year-over-year growth of 14.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cousins’ 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $2.79, which implies a year-over-year increase of 3.7%.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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