Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust (MUST) has entered into a master restructuring plan to remedy its financial woes.

The announcement on Monday (Dec 18) came after all 12 lenders obtained the necessary approvals on the plan to raise funds through a mix of asset dispositions and a sponsor-lender loan.

Under the master restructuring agreement, MUST would face default if the Reit manager is no longer wholly owned by the sponsor the Manufacturers Life Insurance, or any successor of the sponsor which is wholly owned by the sponsor’s holding company, Manulife Financial Corporation.

The level of MUST’s facilities and its subsidiaries that may be affected by a breach of default event condition is US$1,180 million as at Monday.

In a separate bourse filing the same day, the Reit manager announced that MUST had completed the divestment of the Park Place property in Arizona to a wholly owned subsidiary of its sponsor on Dec 15.

Following the divestment, MUST’s portfolio consists of 10 office properties in Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington DC.

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The divestment is part of a master restructuring plan, or recapitalisation plan, announced on Nov 29, which estimated the divestment consideration to be approximately US$98.7 million.

On Dec 13, the Reit manager announced that 11 out of 12 of MUST’s lenders had obtained the necessary approvals in relation to the restructuring plan while the remaining lender was pending financial board approval. Unitholders of MUST on the following day voted overwhelmingly in favour of the plan.

Units of MUST closed Friday up 6.4 per cent, or US$0.005, at US$0.083.