Morgan Stanley to vote on Investa Office Fund merger proposal

Morgan Stanley has won the right to consider a $2.5bn tie-up between Investa and Dexus.

07/12/2015: Dexus Property Group chief executive Darren Steinberg in Sydney today. Pic by James Croucher

Morgan Stanley’s funds arm has won the right to vote its crucial 8.9 per cent stake in Investa Office Fund at a meeting on April 15, to consider a $2.5 billion merger proposal from Dexus Property Group.

Dexus had gone to the Takeovers Panel, seeking to prevent Morgan Stanley from voting its $225 million stake, but the panel today decided to allow the bank to vote its stake and it now plans to do so at the meeting.

The bank has declined to reveal its voting intentions and will not advocate a position.

However, it would be cool on the Dexus tactics, which sought to rule it out from voting, and it has been reported to favour an offer with more cash than the scrip-heavy Dexus offer.

However, the Dexus proposal can count on the backing of major IOF investors, CBRE Clarion, which controls 10.5 per cent of IOF, and Deutsche’s real estate investment arm, RREEF, which both wrote to the Takeovers Panel urging the authority to prevent the US bank from voting its stake.