IGW Gaining Support of Partners REIT Unitholders For Board Change
Corrects Continuing Board Misinformation
(firmenpresse) - VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/28/13 -- IGW Real Estate Investment Trust ("IGW") today announced it is gaining significant support from other unitholders of Partners REIT ("Partners") for its effort to elect four highly experienced real estate executives trustees to replace the non-management incumbent trustees ("Incumbent Trustees").
IGW is a private real estate investment trust and, through its affiliates, is the largest unitholder of Partners, with 14.7% of the units. It has nominated James Bullock, Graham Senst, Wilbur Smith III, and Patrick Miniutti, for election to the board of trustees (the "Board") at Partners' annual meeting scheduled for June 6, 2013.
A growing number of unitholders, including Allen Berg, the largest known individual unitholder of Partners, have voted the GOLD proxy to change the Board which has not acted in their best interests.
"Like IGW, these unitholders have a true vested interest in Partners and a strong understanding of the issues to be decided. The Incumbent Trustees have little invested in Partners and their statements indicate either they do not understand that the future of Partners is at stake or they are deliberately misleading unitholders," said Adam Gant, President and Trustee of IGW. "Our $30 million investment in Partners is one of our largest and our prime motivation is to see that investment increase in value. We are completely aligned with other unitholders."
The Incumbent Trustees continue their attempts to mislead Partners unitholders with a news release and letter issued today which claim the management contract requires a termination payment of either $2.1 million now or $8 million in five years' time.
This is false.
The management contract includes an internalization clause, added with the full support of the manager, which allows for orderly and rational internalization without the payment of ANY termination fee. It is only the Incumbent Trustees' rush to pursue their irrational decision that would require Partners unitholders to pay a termination fee. At the right time, and with the right oversight, internalizing management would cost unitholders NOTHING. At the wrong time, and with the wrong oversight, internalizing management would cost unitholders substantial sums to hire new executives and staff and lease office space -- and would have to incur a termination fee.
This is only the latest in a series of misleading statements from the Incumbent Trustees.
IGW's legal counsel has sent a letter to the Incumbent Trustees' counsel which indicates that IGW and the manager believe that certain statements in the May 16th letter of the Incumbent Trustees are defamatory. The letter demands that the Incumbent Trustees publicly retract the defamatory statements and cease and desist with any further defamatory statements. IGW and the manager are also exploring all legal options available to them to seek recourse in connection with the defamatory statements.
The Incumbent Trustees claim the manager has acted inappropriately, when the facts prove the opposite.
Consider these facts about the Incumbent Trustees: only one of them has actually reviewed acquisitions in any detail; the claim of inaccurate information is due to their not reading what was actually provided; no trustee has ever brought forth an acquisition opportunity; no trustee has seen any of the properties acquired; only one trustee has retail real estate expertise; only two trustees have operational real estate experience; the trustees have not had a strategic meeting or reviewed the existing portfolio in any detail over the past 18 months; the trustees have only met with senior management for obligatory quarterly financial reviews; and the trustees have no interest in pursuing strategic M&A transactions. The manager has tried to keep the trustees fully informed of all relevant activities in spite of their lack of availability. The manager has consistently fulfilled its duty to unitholders. The Incumbent Trustees have not.
"It is clear from the facts that the Incumbent Trustees are not acting in the best interests of all unitholders and increasingly our fellow investors recognize that fact," Mr. Gant said. "A new board, comprising experienced retail real estate professionals, and committed to creating value is urgently needed. Our nominees can grow Partners to the size it needs for internalization to make financial sense."
The Incumbent Trustees have also relied on a flawed report from Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) which appears to believe, wrongly, that the unitholder vote is about internalizing management. ISS made its recommendation without meeting with IGW, which is customary and, as a result, has ignored IGW's agreement on internalization and made a fundamental error in its recommendation as well as factual errors in its report.
Investor Conference Call
IGW invites its fellow unitholders of Partners to participate in a conference call providing the reasons for change at Board and to allow unitholders to direct questions to Adam Gant, President and Trustee of IGW and Patrick Miniutti, IGW nominee to the Board.
Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Unitholders are encouraged to submit questions by e-mail to .
A replay of the call will be available until midnight June 4, 2013 by dialing 905-694-9451 or 800-408-3053 and entering passcode 2262288.
How to Vote the GOLD Proxy: Time is Short
Unitholders are advised to use the GOLD proxy or voting information form (VIF) enclosed with the circular provided by IGW to vote FOR the four IGW nominees and to discard the Blue proxy sent by Partners. Time is short since the annual meeting is on June 6, 2013 and, in order to be counted at the meeting, GOLD proxies and VIFs must be received by 10:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on June 4, 2013.
If they have already voted using the Blue proxy, unitholders can still use the GOLD proxy or VIF which revoke the previous vote.
IT IS ONLY THE LAST PROXY OR VIF THAT IS SUBMITTED THAT IS COUNTED AT THE MEETING SO, TO SUPPORT CHANGE AT THE PARTNERS BOARD, VOTE ONLY THE GOLD PROXY OR VIF. AND VOTE TODAY.
About IGW
IGW is a private real estate investment trust and, through its affiliates, is the largest unitholder of Partners, with 14.7% of the units. On May 9, 2013 it filed a proxy circular with securities regulators providing reasons why four trustees of Partners should be removed and replaced by four highly experienced real estate executives IGW has nominated for election to the Board at Partners' annual meeting scheduled for June 6, 2013.
Contacts:
Investors
Laurel Hill Advisory Group
1-877-452-7184
Media
Lute & Company
John Lute
416 929 5883
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Datum: 28.05.2013 - 15:44 Uhr
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News-ID 1231347
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