Vitalharvest unitholders vote to sell citrus company to Macquarie for $357m
Unitholders met today to vote on the sale of Vitalharvest to Macquarie.
Citrus and berry farm landlord Vitalharvest will soon be handed over to Macquarie Agricultural Farm Management after an intense four-month battle with Roc Private Equity.
VTH unitholders overwhelmingly voted this morning to sell their company to MAFM for $1.33 a unit.
But the price will be discounted by 2.5 cents a unit after the VTH responsible entity board announced last week it would pay a full-year distribution to its investors for the same amount.
Chairwoman at today’s meeting Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, a partner at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, said the distribution would be paid on July 12, the same day the scheme implementation deed confirming the sale to MAFM was expected to come into effect.
The scheme implementation deed needed a vote of 75 per cent to pass.
Proxies showed before the vote showed 88 per cent of unitholders had cast their votes in favour of the sale.
The final vote is expected to be lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange later today.
The scheme now goes before the Supreme Court of NSW on Thursday for ratification.
Unitholders will receive $357.35 million for the sale and distribution, on top of a 2.5 cent interim distribution paid in May.
The sale price is a significant improvement on the $1 a share offer originally made by MAFM in November last year.
When Roc PE entered the bidding in February, the sale price rose in a seesawing battle by about $60 million more than the original offer by MAFM.
Ms Maslen-Stannage said the latest scheme proposed by MAFM had the backing of the VTH RE board and an independent expert.
“The independent expert has concluded that, in the absence of a superior proposal, the scheme is fair and reasonable to, and in the best interests, of, VTH unitholders,” she said before the vote.
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