Unitholders of the A$7bn (€4.7bn) AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund (AWOF) will vote in a meeting to be held on 15 July to decide whether to remove AMP Capital as trustee of the fund.
The AMP Capital flagship fund is in the throes of being transferred to Dexus following a deal - agreed to in April - to give Dexus the right to manage AMP Capital’s A$28bn real asset platform.
However, Mirvac has since emerged as a potential suitor for AWOF. This led some key shareholders to requisition a unitholder meeting to vote on their choice.
At least 50% of the total votes that may be cast by AWOF unitholders has to be in favour for a change to take effect.
A source told IPE Real Assets AWOF trustee would not be making a recommendation. “It is up to investors to decide.”
A Dexus spokesperson said: “Following a period of investor engagement, we will be presenting an enhanced proposal backed by the combined platform that will bring together the strengths of AMP Capital and the Dexus platform.”
The spokesperson said the proposal that Dexus was putting forward was “extremely compelling”. “We look forward to the investors reviewing our revised proposal and having their say,” the spokesperson added.
An AMP Capital spokesperson said that Dexus had offered “enhancements to governance and fees as well as significant alignment capital”.
He added: “With continued global and domestic uncertainty, we believe now, more than ever, experience, reputation and results are of paramount importance to investors.”
Separately, it is also reported that other listed property groups – GPT and Vicinity Centres – are eyeing for the management of the smaller AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund and the related AMP Capital Retail Trust.
GPT is also believed to be seeking to engage with the shopping centre fund’s unitholders to enlist their interest and support for its proposal to merge the fund with the GPT wholesale retail property vehicle to form an enlarged fund with about A$7.5bn worth of assets.
The GPT move came after leading industry super fund UniSuper shifted its A$2.8bn retail mandate to the company.
The AMP Shopping Centre fund has 14 assets across Australia and New Zealand and most recently it acquired an additional 25% stake in Sydney’s Macquarie Centre for A$442.5m.
Industry sources told local media that the listed shopping centre owner, Vicinity Centres, is also keen to take on the management of both the shopping centre fund and its sister fund, AMP Capital Retail Trust.
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