The adjourned special meeting of Westfield Retail Trusts’ (WRT) securityholders reconvenes in Sydney at 10am today with no one any wiser as to how the proxies for the vote have gone.
Westfield has refused to release them, unlike the situation at Nexus Energy (NXS) a week ago where proxies on the controversial 2c a share takeover offer from Seven Group Holdings (SVW) were detailed well ahead of the meeting. It was clear several days before the meeting that the Seven proposed bid was dead in the water.
But no such disclosure from the retail Trust or the Lowy-controlled Westfield Group.
The market price of the trust and Westfield Group firmed earlier in the week, leading some analysts to claim the restructuring deal will get up today.
Securities in the trust rose nearly 2% to $3.21 on Tuesday, while the securities in the Group company jumped more than 2% to a high of $10.89.
The Trust’s securities fell on Wednesday and yesterday edged up 1.2% to $3.21, while those in the Group closed steady $10.81, after being down to a day’s low of $10.74.
Both securities rose in afternoon trading, leading some analysts to believe the deal will get up today.
WDC vs WRT YTD – Which side will win Westfield vote?
Today’s meeting of the Retail Trust was called after an earlier one in late May was suddenly adjourned when it become very clear the proposal wouldn’t get the required vote of 75%.
Some media reports this week have claimed that enough securityholders have changed their votes to get the proposal over the line. But without the release of the proxy details before the meeting, we have no way of knowing that, either way.
The proposed restructure would see Westfield Group’s Australian assets merged with WRT ( which is a passive property trust spun off from the shopping centre giant in 2010), to create a new company called Scentre.
The deal though would lift the amount of debt in Scentre and its gearing, points objected to by some holders who invested in the retail trust because it was a low debt company paying attractive distributions without the benefits of leverage.
WRT has warned investors since the postponed vote that they will be worse off if they reject the restructure because Frank Lowy (chairman of Westfield Group) has threatened to set up a separate company to hold its interests – which consists mainly of stakes in some shopping centres and the management platform for the Retail Trust’s shopping malls in Australia and New Zealand.
UniSuper chief investment officer John Pearce, one of the most prominent opponents, said the result is too close to call.
"From what I understand the no’s are still no’s and the yes’s are still yes’s," he told media yesterday.
UniSuper is the largest shareholder in the Retail Trust with around 8.9%.
The two Westfield companies went into a trading half this morning ahead of the trust’s meeting at 10am.
