- Vitalharvest recommends MAFM offer to unitholders ahead of meeting
- ADPF unitholders vote in favour of new RE Dexus
- WOTSO acquires three new NSW properties
It is a hump day harvest for ASX listed real estate companies, with three big-ticket items so far this week: Vitalharvest (ASX: VTH) accepts Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management (MAFM) proposal for a takeover, unitholders voted in favour of Dexus merger (ASX: DXS), and WOTSO (ASX: WOT) made three acquisitions.
The broader market
The market is up again and today the top five includes property company Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR). Kogan led the list of top performers, followed by Downer EDI, Cleanaway Waste Management, Mirvac, and Wisetech Global.
At the time of publication, the market was trading at 7065.50.
So far today, the top performers for real estate companies are:
Top-performing ASX listed real estate companies
| Company | Code | Price | Change (%) |
| Mirvac Group | MGR | 2.655 | 3.71 |
| Unibail Rodamco Westfield | URW | 5.50 | 3.19 |
| Auckland Real Estate Trust | AKL | 0.875 | 2.94 |
| Scentre Group | SCG | 2.83 | 2.54 |
| SCA Property Group | SCP | 2.55 | 2.41 |
Source: ASX
The movement
The week began with news from Vitalharvest (ASX: VTH). After a prolonged bidding battle, Vitalharvest has determined that the MAFM offer is within the best interests of VTH unitholders and the board has unanimously recommended that VTH unitholders vote in favour of the MAFM proposal. The offer as it stands is $1.24 per unit or $344.4 million in an asset sale alternative.
Initially, it seemed like Macquarie would have no issue in taking over VTH, with no competing offers made for some two to three months until the end of February when Roc Private Equity entered the fray.
A Vitalharvest unitholder meeting is expected to be held in May this year.
McGrath (ASX: MEA) released expected end of financial year figures which see the EBITDA 350% more than last year, circa $16.5 million. The confidence in company growth stems from fertile market conditions, including low interest rates and lower stock levels.
The long-awaited meeting of AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund (ADPF) unitholders occurred yesterday, with a majority voting in favour of ADPF leaving the hands of AMP Capital, the new responsible entity now Dexus (ASX: DXS). The portfolio was ranked as best performing by Mercer index, and the deal sees the circa $5.4 billion portfolio join a more than $10 billion Dexus Wholesale Property Fund. Dexus also provided $400 million of upfront liquidity to ADPF, and $50 million for transaction costs.
WOTSO (ASX: WOT) also made three acquisitions all in NSW, 1 Tudor Street and 811-815 Hunter Street in Newcastle West and 2 Ada Avenue in Brookvale. The total acquisition is some $10 million.
Primewest (ASX PWG) made its first major deal following the merger announced earlier this month, a joint venture with BlackRock Real Assets to purchase 140 St Georges Terrace in Perth, also known as AMP Tower.
In other news, announcements about Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) becoming a substantial holder in two Australian companies were made this week, the company became a substantial holder of fuel station and convenience retail REIT Waypoint (ASX: WPR) on 20 April, as well as residential developer Peet Limited (ASX: PPC) on 21 April; MUFG then ceased to be a substantial holder of PPC a day later.
The WPR announcement to market was made on Monday, MUFG holding almost 40 million stapled securities in the company with 5.09% voting power. The PPC announcement to market was also made on Monday, almost 25 million fully paid ordinary shares were had in Peet or 5.12% voting power, the announcement of cessation came yesterday, the company now holding 13,738,887 shares in Peet.
A strong start to the week for ASX listed property companies, with the trend hopefully continuing following last weeks extension to HomeBuilder construction deadlines among other things.
