By Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Australian Unity Office Property Fund’s long-suffering shareholders are set to administer the $206 million ASX-listed fund its last rites, as a five-year-long battle to delist it draws to an end.
Street Talk understands AOF is mulling a windup proposal that could be put to shareholders as early as this month, and require 50 per cent of the register to agree to be successful. The preparations come as AOF closes in on a sale of its 64 Northbourne Avenue tower in Canberra, which would leave it with just one property in St Kilda in the portfolio that hasn’t been spoken for.
Sources said AOF has found a buyer for the Canberra property at about $22 million – versus the $29.5 million book value at the end of the 2023 financial year – and is expected to sign the sale documents as soon as a lease extension with a key tenant is bedded down.
An AOF spokeswoman declined to comment when contacted by Street Talk on Wednesday afternoon.
Should this sale be finalised and AOF wound up, shareholders are expected to paid out the proceeds from a trust. Settlement on two other recently sold properties – including the $80.5 million 10 Valentine Avenue in Parramatta and 150 Charlotte Street, Brisbane – won’t be done until March 2025.
It’s the closing chapter for key shareholders Hume Partners and Hong Kong hedge fund Maso Capital, who had to endure at least four failed takeover bids in five years, including from Aliro Group in 2022, US investment giant Starwood Capital in 2020 and 2019, and a joint proposal from Charter Hall and Abacus Property Group also in 2019. All the while, units in the fund traded at a discount to their underlying asset backing without much liquidity – closing off that avenue of an exit.
In the end, it was individual asset sales – and not whole-of-company bids – that worked out AOF.
For latter arrivals, like Geoff Wilson’s WAM Strategic Value and family office investor Rodney Forrest, it has been a good trade as AOF finally hit the gas on divestments and began returning capital. Activist investor Nick Bolton made a cameo, but is understood to have exited after turning a quick profit – no boardroom fights needed.
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