Jelmoli shareholders to vote on spin-off plan on 5 November

Swiss retailer Jelmoli said Wednesday that its shareholders would be called to vote on a spin-off plan to separate its business into listed real estate and investment units in an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on 5 November 2008.

Jelmoli said that the creation of the two separate listed companies—a real estate company known as Jelmoli Holding and an investment company known as Athris Holding - by means of a dividend in kind, should close by January if shareholders give their okay to the proposal. Shareholders will also be asked to approve other proposals, including the introduction of a single class of shareholders in the real estate company and a reverse premium to the controlling shareholder, Pelham Investments, for ceding the majority of its voting rights in the real estate company.

The company had announced last April that it planned to implement a break-up plan following the collapse late last year of a EUR 2bn sale-and-leaseback of 88 department stores to an Israeli consortium.