Marriott CEO Simon Pearse said the reason Marriott unit trusts, which represent retired investors, would not accept Hyprop's offer was that these investors' income would be deferred for at least three months because of the time difference between the distribution of Hyprop and SA Retail. The two funds have different year ends.

"We (Marriott) can't afford to reduce the income to our retired investors. The reason those investors would not accept the offer is their need for reliability of income. Deferring it for a quarter effectively means the retired investor doesn't get the portion of the income for one quarter," said Pearse.

But Catalyst Securities MD Andre Stadler said there appeared to be a "contradiction in terms of Marriotts statements".

Stadler said that Marriott had gone on record as saying the Hyprop offer was an inflated one at R8 a share, but then Marriott unit trusts were saying they would not accept the offer.

As for Pearse's rationale for Marriott's unit trusts not accepting the offer, Stadler said one option for Marriott would be to sell their investors' units in SA Retail now at the current price of R8,20 a share, which was higher than the offer price.

He said that Marriott unit trusts could then reinvest the proceeds in higher -yielding property stocks.

"They would satisfy the income requirements of their investors," said Stadler.

Pearse also said 43% of SA Retail's unitholders, which included Marriott Asset management and the Marriott and Nedbank-owned Whirlprops, were undecided about Hyprop's offer.

"It's still wide open and Hyprop's takeover bid is not a fait accompli," said Pearse.