Croesus Retail Trust unitholders approve Blackstone's $900.6m buyout offer

Croesus Shinsaibashi in Osaka, one of the Croesus Retail Trust's 11 malls in Japan. PHOTO: CROESUS RETAIL TRUST

SINGAPORE - A majority of unitholders of Croesus Retail Trust on Wednesday morning (Sept 13) voted in favour of US private equity giant Blackstone's S$1.17 per unit cash offer to privatise the trust.

In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, its trustee-manager Croesus Retail Asset Management said the trust deed amendment got the approval of unitholders holding in the aggregate not less than 75 per cent of the voting rights of all unitholders present at the scheme meeting.

The trust deed amendment will introduce provisions to facilitate the implementation of the scheme.

The scheme also garnered approval from a majority of the unitholders present at the meeting representing at least 75 per cent in value of the units held, it added.

The scheme, which is subject to the High Court's approval, is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter this year. The High Court hearing on the matter is expected to be on Oct 2.

If the scheme becomes effective, unitholders will receive S$1.17 per unit within seven business days from the effective date, which is expected to be Oct 11.

If however, the effective date falls after Oct 31, unitholders may receive up to an additional 90 per cent of Croesus' distributable income for the period from Nov 1 to the effective date.

The last day for the trading of the units is expected to be Oct 5 and the books closure date on Oct 10 at 5 pm. The trust is expected to be delisted by Oct 24.

CIMB Bank, the independent financial adviser, had found Blackstone's S$1.17 per unit cash offer to privatise Croesus Retail Trust to be "fair and reasonable", and recommended that holders vote in favour of the bid at the scheme meeting.

It said the offer price represents a premium of 24.5 per cent to 37.7 per cent over the various volume-weighted average trading prices from listing until June 23, 2017, the last full day of trading before the bid was announced, CIMB said.

Croesus traded at S$1.165 when it resumed trading this afternoon after calling for a halt before markets opened.

Mr David Lim, chairman and independent director of the trustee-manager thanked unitholders for their "patience and belief in Croesus Retail Trust these past four and a half years since IPO."

"The board and management had aimed to be good stewards of their trust and investment and I am very happy for our unitholders that they have this opportunity to realise a profitable investment," he said.

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