Dutch property investor Nieuwe Steen Investments (NSI) announced on Tuesday that it is in the final phase of its negotiations with Vastned Offices/Industrial regarding a potential merger of their businesses.

'The Dutch office market is in challenging circumstances and it will not change for the better in the near future,' NSI said. 'This underlines the logic and the advantages of scale, increased efficiency and diversification and improved financial strength and flexibility.'

NSI said it is positive about the rationale of the merger but added that the combination of its activities with Vastned O/I 'is one of the possibilities to achieve the desired economies of scale'.

NSI has spoken intensively with Vastned O/I in the past few months and performed due diligence. The company, which announced the start of merger talks in December last year, said remaining issues and the management contract will be discussed this week, with an agreement expected by early next week.

The companies' negotiations so far have pointed to a possible exchange ratio of 0.85 NSI shares for each Vastned O/I share.