By ANNE GIBSON
Waltus Investments has postponed today's special meeting on the merger of 29 of its property syndicates to give investors time to consider changes to the documents.
The decision was greeted with glee by opponents of the merger proposal, which is intended to create one company with $238 million in assets.
Waltus chief financial officer Hamish Plimmer said the meeting had been delayed for two reasons: investors had made it clear they wanted more time to consider the proposal and the wording of the prospectus was being changed.
Investors had called for more time when they attended the 14 roadshow meetings that Waltus had run in the past fortnight, Mr Plimmer said.
"They said they hadn't had sufficient time," he said, adding that Waltus had to give investors only 14 working days' notice. As it was, investors had already had three weeks.
Alterations have been made to the registered prospectus and the investment statement.
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The first of these relates to those companies that have average unexpired lease terms of more than two years and have sinking funds, the impact of which will be to reduce their interest costs.
Another change will provide more analysis of expected returns if the syndicates were to carry on as they are, compared to the merged entity.
A further clarification has also been made to the prospectus regarding rates of interest.
"It is now clear that the word 'current' referred to the rates that the directors of the participating companies have determined will be current during the 19-month period to March 2002 if the merger does not go ahead, and assuming those rates apply for the whole period," a Waltus statement said.
Commenting on the statement, Mr Plimmer said he remained confident that the merger would proceed, but at the later date than was earlier expected.
Merger opponents said yesterday that they had not had time to investigate whether the changes to the prospectus would allay their fears or criticisms.
However, they all agreed that the more time before the merger proposal goes to the vote, the better.
Forsythe Barr managing director Michael Sidey said a lot of issues remained and the delay would give people time to assess them, as the proposal was something that should not be rushed.
Waltus wants the merger to cover the ailing syndicates that are struggling cover their debts.
Doug Somers-Edgar of Money Managers called for new voting forms to be sent out to all investors, as the alterations could change how investors voted. He had received calls yesterday from three investors who wanted to change their votes from being in favour of the merger to being against it, as a result of the changes.
Mr Somers-Edgar called on any investment advisers who were recommending that their clients vote in favour of the merger to disclose to their clients if they were receiving a trailing commission from Waltus, which could amount to around 0.25 per cent of the value of the business.
Whangarei accountant Brian Moyle said he would now send a detailed letter to his 50 clients who had invested in Waltus. This would state his reasons for recommending opposition to the scheme.
The delay was therefore a good thing, he said
Waltus' investment statement of July 18 stated that for the merger to proceed, one of two criteria had to be met. First, a minimum of 75 per cent of those investors who voted by proxy or in person had to approve the deal.
Alternatively, if approval was not received from companies with more than 90 per cent of total gross assets, the scheme could not proceed.
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