CITY Pacific has road blocked disgruntled investors, to stop them from voting to overthrow the company.
Late yesterday City Pacific applied to the Federal Court to order funds manager Balmain Trilogy to abandon a proposed unitholder meeting on June 25.
Unitholders have requisitioned the meeting to vote to remove City Pacific as the manager of the $1 billion First Mortgage Fund.
Trilogy Funds Management chairman Rodger Bacon told Australian Property Journal yesterday, the move by City Pacific was “desperate”.
“This is another desperate attempt to frustrate the wishes of an overwhelming number of unit holders who have voted in favour of Balmain Trilogy,” he added.
Earlier this week, Bacon said City Pacific had become increasingly frightened of losing control of a $1 billion fund and is resorting to spooking unitholders.
Bacon said City Pacific is trying to frighten unitholders with unsubstantiated allegations about the Balmain Trilogy bid, because Balmain Trilogy has received 328 million proxy votes of which 97.5% voted for change in the management of the fund.
“City Pacific is really ‘grasping at straws’ when it says Balmain Trilogy’s management fee will exceed 1.5%.
“It has been clear for more than six months that the Balmain Trilogy management fee for the City Pacific First Mortgage Fund would not exceed 1.5% — and this undertaking remains unequivocal,” he added.
Yesterday City Pacific lodged an interlocutory application against the proposed meeting. The application will be heard by the Federal Court next Monday June 22.
City Pacific wants to stop the requisitioning unitholders from going ahead with the extraordinary resolution to overthrow the company as the manager of FMF.
“City Pacific recognises and accepts the authority of the unitholders of the fund to call and conduct a meeting of fund unitholders and on the basis the unitholders are appropriately informed decide the fate of City Pacific as the responsible entity of the fund.
“City Pacific invited and encouraged the requisitioning unitholders to abandon the proposed meeting and correct the deficiencies on 5 June 2009. As the requisitioning unitholders have refused the offer to recommence the process, City Pacific was left with no alternative but to apply to the courts for the above declarations and orders,” the company said.
Australian Property Journal
