Croesus unit holders approve Blackstone's bid

This article is more than 12 months old

Sep 14, 2017 06:00 am

Unit holders of Croesus Retail Trust voted yesterday to accept the $900.6 million offer from US private equity giant Blackstone to take it private.

The two proposals relating to the buyout received backing of almost 99 per cent of investors present or those represented by proxies.The trust deed amendment was approved with 98.72 per cent, Croesus said, while the scheme was backed by 82.42 per cent of unit holders present and voting, representing 98.68 per cent of units represented by votes.

The buyout is subject to High Court approval, with a hearing expected on Oct 2.

If the scheme becomes effective, unit holders will be paid $1.17 a unit, likely by around Oct 23. But if the effective date comes after Oct 31, unit holders could get up to an additional 90 per cent of Croesus's distributable income for the period from Nov 1 to this effective date.

The cash offer will not be reduced by the permitted distributions, nor will it be reduced by transaction expenses of up to US$9 million (S$12.1 million), or about 1.59 cents per unit.

The last day of trading is expected to be Oct 5 with delisting by Oct 24. CIMB Bank, the independent financial adviser, had said earlier that Blackstone's $1.17 a unit cash offer was "fair and reasonable", and recommended that holders accept the bid. - THE STRAITS TIMES