CAPE TOWN - EMIRA Property Fund has received a mandatory R2.87 billion offer from Maitlantic 10 Proprietary (Maitlantic) and Clearance Cantara Master Fund (CC) after Maitlantic and its partners took control of 35.03 percent of Emira’s shares.
Maitlantic and its partners have made a mandatory offer to acquire all of Emira’s shares for R9.15 a share, cash.
Emira said on Friday that an independent board would review the offer.
Emira’s JSE share price closed 2.35 percent higher at R9.57 on Friday. The price has drifted steadily upwards over a year from R7.60.
The offer price was 2.6 percent lower than Friday’s price, and was much lower than Emira’s net asset value per share of R14.75 per share at December 31.
Two of Emira’s existing shareholders, Luxanio Trading 157 and Tamela Property Investments, which each controlled 13.07 million shares in Emira, or about 5 percent of its issued shares, have indicated they would reject the mandatory offer.
Emira’s property portfolio of about R13bn includes office, retail, industrial and residential properties in South Africa and convenience shopping centres in the US.
Its portfolio is structured for adaptability to deliver stability and sustainability through different economic and property cycles.
Its dividend fell to 52 cents a share (74.1c in the prior year) for the six months to December 31, but the directors said at the time their operations had proved robust through the sixmonth period as the local economy eased out of pandemic restrictions.
Maitlantic is a subsidiary of I Group Consolidated Holdings, a private, South African real estate holding and development company.
CC is a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands. CC was established by Clearance Capita and was unrelated to I Group, and does not hold any shares in Emira.
The full offer price would amount to R2.87bn if all eligible Emira shareholders accepted the offer.
If acceptances were received for less than or equal to R2.25bn, all offer shares would be acquired by Maitlantic.
CC would participate as co-offerer, but would acquire offer shares only once acceptances exceeded R2.25bn.
CC would acquire offer shares for not more than R150m if the initial acquisition threshold of about R2.25bn was reached.
BUSINESS REPORT