Abrdn Property Income Trust (API), a £439 mln property fund managed by abrdn, will be wound down after a proposed merger with Custodian Property Income REIT (CREI) failed to win sufficient support from shareholders.
In a statement, the fund said that while a majority of its shareholders (61%) voted to back a merger with rival CREI, the proposed tie-up failed to reach the 75% support threshold required for the deal to go ahead.
‘In view of these results and the challenges that API would continue to experience as a standalone company, the API board will now take steps to implement a managed wind-down, subject to API Shareholder approval, with the objective of delivering enhanced returns for API Shareholders,’ commented James Clifton-Brown, Chair of API.
CREI said in a statement that it was disappointed by the outcome, but said the merger had not been critical to its strategy.
Earlier this month API's board recommended shareholders to accept the proposed CREI merger instead of an offer received from Urban Logistics, another rival looking to get control of API's industrial and retail warehouses.
CREI and API had agreed terms for a £1 bn (€1.2 bn) merger in January.
Urban Logistics REIT approached API two weeks ago with an alternative bid with a different strategy to create a last-mile logistics property company as opposed to a generalist.
