This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ENTRUST Funds Management has put forward a proposal to delist the $16 million Esplanade Property Fund.
EFM’s managing director David Franklyn said the decision follows an extensive investigation to narrow the discount that has developed over time between the trading price of the fund’s Units and their underlying net asset backing.
The fund’s 52-week high price was 20 cents and last Friday was at a low of 8 cents.
“EFM believes that the size of the discount in recent times has been unwarranted, particularly given the quality of the fund’s investment portfolio and its low gearing levels.
“The relatively low level of liquidity in trading in units on ASX, together with the compliance costs of maintaining an ASX listing, have also been contributing factors in reaching this decision,” he added.
In the meantime, EFM proposes to extend its existing on-market buyback program so as to permit EFM to buy-back up to a further 3.5 million units on-market — taking the total number of units which may still be bought back under the on-market buy-back to 4,259,412 million units up to the earlier of March 05 2009 and the date that the proposed ASX delisting takes effect.
Australian Property Journal
