Frasers Hospitality Trust (FHT) will finally privatise after its unitholders approved the trust’s scheme of arrangement to delist.
At its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Aug 15, stapled securityholders holding 321.2 million units in FHT or 99.21% of the trust's units, voted “for” the proposed scheme, while 0.79% voted “against”.
Table: FHT
This is in contrast to the first privatisation attempt in September 2022, where unitholders holding 74.88% of units in FHT voted “for” the scheme, missing the 75% mark by just 0.12 percentage points.
Eric Gan, CEO of FHT’s managers, previously stressed that it would make sense for investors to accept the privatisation offer given that the offer is at 1.11 times to P/NAV, which is among the highest P/NAV premiums for an S-REIT privatisation.
See also: FHT’s privatisation scheme meeting to be held on Aug 15
On May 14, FHT and its sponsor, Frasers Property Limited (FPL), jointly announced that FPL was seeking to take FHT private at 71 cents per share.
Gan, in an interview with The Edge Singapore, said the scheme is a “very good deal” given that the premium compares favourably with the benchmarks the trust had measured, as well as the heightened uncertainty ahead.
FHT’s independent financial adviser (IFA), Deloitte & Touche, also deemed the scheme to be “fair and reasonable”. FHT’s independent directors also recommended unitholders to “vote in favour” of the scheme resolution at the EGM.
See also: Great Eastern Holdings update: OCBC, the Wongs and SGX are winners
“We are grateful for the support of our stapled securityholders. As the managers of FHT, it has been our objective to maximise and realise value for our stapled securityholders," said Gan in an Aug 15 release. "We thank our stapled securityholders for approving the scheme resolution today. We will now focus on taking the necessary steps to complete the transaction so that stapled securityholders can receive their funds in a timely manner."
Units in FHT and FPL closed at 70.5 cents and 96 cents, respectively; the companies have called for a trading halt this morning.
Read the rest of the privatisation offer here:
- Investors should accept ‘very good’ privatisation deal ahead of future uncertainty: FHT
- FHT’s privatisation scheme meeting to be held on Aug 15
- SGX gives approval-in-principle to FHT to delist
- Second privatisation offer for FHT at 1.11 times NAV is highest among S-REIT privatisations
- Frasers Property offers 71 cents per unit to privatise Frasers Hospitality Trust
- Trading halt for FHT and sponsor Frasers Property, pending announcement
- FHT exploring options to 'ensure alignment' between sponsor and other shareholders
- FHT shareholders vote against scheme resolution for privatisation
- FHT’s reasons for privatisation apply to other hospitality trusts
- Frasers Property's privatisation offer an opportunity for FHT unitholders to unlock value: CGS-CIMB
- Maybank Securities advise investors to accept FHT privatisation offer
- Frasers Property offers 70 cents to privatise Frasers Hospitality Trust
- TCC is said to seek $500 mil loan for Frasers Trust privatisation
