UPDATE 2-VastNed Retail reopens talks about $1.8 bln offer

(Rewrites with VastNed comment, adds analyst comment)

By Wim Groeneveld

ROTTERDAM, April 8 (Reuters) - Dutch property group VastNed Retail (VASN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) said it will resume talks about a 70 euro per share or 1.15 billion euros ($1.8 billion) offer from IEF Capital, boosting its shares on Tuesday.

VastNed Retail said in a statement the talks will be on an exclusive basis and take as a starting point IEF's offer of at least 70 euros per share after payment of VastNed Retail's 2007 final dividend, which was 2.73 euros per share.

Shares in VastNed touched a high at 67.67 euros and closed up 3.8 percent at 67.25 euros, outperforming a 0.7 percent decline of the Amsterdam midcap index .

IEF Capital, which owns about 2.5 billion euros in Dutch property, has said it wants to buy VastNed Retail for its European assets which offer a hedge for inflation products sold to institutional investors.

VastNed Retail decided to resume negotiations with IEF Capital after it said on Friday that it could not agree to sell the company in parts. In November it rejected IEF's 1.15 billion euros offer, saying it was too low.

VastNed cancelled plans to break up the firm as this would give proceeds of about 71 euros per share, which was an "insufficient premium" to its net asset value, the company said in a presentation during its shareholders' meeting on Tuesday.

IEF Capital, a joint venture between Rabobank's [RABN.UL] Bouwfonds Asset Management and Inflation Exchange Fund, said during the meeting it did not plan to raise its offer price, and would take 70 euros as a starting point for negotiations.