MLT unitholders vote in favour of plans to acquire assets in China, Vietnam

UNITHOLDERS of Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) have voted in favour of its plan to acquire 13 logistics assets in China and 3 properties in Vietnam as well as the proposed issue of 106 million new units in MLT as partial consideration for the acquisitions in China.

MLT's manager released the minutes of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on Jan 13 in a bourse filing on Friday (Feb 11), which indicated that 99.7 per cent of unitholders voted in favour of the proposed acquisitions, while 0.3 per cent voted against it.

A total of 99.7 per cent of unitholders also voted in favour of the proposed issue of 106 million new units to Mulberry, a subsidiary of MLT's sponsor Mapletree Investments (MIPL), for the acquisitions in China. The consideration units would be issued at S$1.88.

Of the unitholders, 92.9 per cent voted in favour of a whitewash resolution for unitholders to waive their rights to receive a mandatory offer from MLT's sponsor MIPL and its concert parties for all remaining issued MLT units not owned by MIPL and its concert parties, in the event that they trigger a mandatory bid obligation; while 7.1 per cent of unitholders voted against this third resolution.

At the EGM, unitholder Teo Junjie questioned why the manager had chosen to acquire 7 of the properties in China which were undergoing stabilisation and required income support. Ng Kiat, chief executive of the manager, replied that the manager was confident of its ability to bring up the occupancy quickly based on MLT's track record in China over the last 5 years, as well as its network with tenants.

Another unitholder, Lum Yue Wah, asked whether the issue price of S$1.88 was academic. Chairman of the manager's board Lee Chong Kwee replied that the advantage of using consideration units was in reducing the cash outlay payable by MLT for the acquisitions in China, and also aligns the sponsor's interests with that of unitholders'. Lee also clarified that the consideration units were to be issued to Mulberry, which was nominated by the relevant Chinese vendors.

Units of MLT ended Friday down 1.69 per cent or S$0.03 at S$1.75.