CSC shareholders to vote on Trafford Centre deal
CAPITAL Shopping Centres’ (CSC) £1.6bn acquisition of the Trafford Centre is expected to be passed by shareholders later today.
The proposed deal, first announced in November, was expected to go through last month but it came under fire from US-based Simon Property Group which described the move as “value destructive”.
Simon, which holds 6% of CSC, hoped to derail the deal by launching a £2.9bn takeover of the business. But it walked away on January 11 claiming that CSC failed to provide due diligence information.
CSC urged shareholders to back the deal when they vote on January 26. It believes the acquisition will be in the best interests of shareholders, strengthen its position and increase its presence in the North West retail market.
“The revised acquisition is accretive to CSC’s NAV [net asset value] per share and represents an implied discount of 4.5% to the Trafford Centre’s independent external valuation of £1.65bn at November 1,” said the group in a statement earlier in the month.
On January 7 CSC revised the bid terms in an attempt to appease Simon. It is now proposing to pay for the acquisition by issuing 205.9 million new shares at 400p to Peel that would give its chairman John Whittaker a 23.2% stake in CSC. It will also take on the centre’s net debt of £798m. Shareholders are expected to vote on the deal at 4pm today.
