Listed property loan stock company Redefine Income Fund's takeover bid for Spearhead Property Holdings was given a boost on Tuesday when Spearhead unitholders voted unanimously in favour of the deal at a special meeting.

Now the deal requires only Redefine unitholders' approval and Competition Commission approval before it can become unconditional.

Spearhead CEO Mike Flax said more than 58% of Spearhead unitholders attended the meeting yesterday and all of those present voted in favour of the deal. Flax said 75% of the vote was required to give the deal the green light.

"We expect the deal to be finalised by the middle of November," he said.

Redefine unitholders will vote on the takeover bid on Friday.

Redefine CEO Brian Azizollahoff said the company still had a "couple more steps to go" before the takeover could go ahead. The vote result at the Spearhead unitholder meeting was "very positive" he said.

Azizollahoff said indications were that a similar result would be obtained at Friday's meeting of Redefine unitholders.

Redefine announced in July it was making a takeover bid for Cape Town-based Spearhead in a deal valued at R1,3bn.

Redefine, which is asset managed by listed property asset manager Madison Property Fund Managers, made an offer to Spearhead's unitholders to acquire all the listed property company's linked units.

If the transaction is successful it will boost Redefine's total assets to just over R7bn.

Redefine is offering 6,18 of its linked units for every Spearhead linked unit, or R31 in cash.

Flax will join Madison as an executive director and other Spearhead executives will also join the Madison stable.

Flax said the merger carried with it advantages for both companies.

"Last year Redefine was the top-performing company on the securities exchange (JSE). The merger will create a powerful property company with assets of R7bn, operating income of R620m and a projected growth in the next two years of more than 15% a year," he said.

Redefine was one of the most liquid property funds on the JSE, he said.

Business Day
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge