NEW YORK--(Marketwire - Oct 26, 2011) -
Statement of Certain Unitech Corporate Parks Requisitioning Shareholders Following Recent Extraordinary General Meeting While we are disappointed that Sanjay Pandit was not elected to the Unitech Corporate Parks Board of Directors, we are gratified that his candidacy received nearly 40% of the votes cast, along with the support of respected proxy advisory services. We plan to remain committed and vigilant UCP shareholders and, among other things, to maintain the website established in connection with the meeting ( http://www.ucpegm.net ), where we will be periodically posting observations and questions. Note that some of the material on the website is intended for, and should be considered by, only investors meeting certain qualifications. In the aftermath of the EGM and the release of the FY 2011 financial statements, we have a number of questions: 1. At the AGM, Mr. Adams implied disfavour for the strategy of selling certain company assets at NAV and using the proceeds to repurchase shares at significant discounts to NAV because such a strategy would conflict with the company's "purpose" which is to develop property. Are we to understand then, that the company ascribes a higher value to pursuing its "purpose" than it does to maximizing NAV per share? Put another way, given that the company's shares trade at around 50% of reported NAV, and that UCP employs low double-digit discount rates in arriving at that NAV, what does the company's Board of Directors estimate UCP's cost of capital to be? Does the Board acknowledge that investments whose return is lower than the cost of capital are destructive of shareholder value? Is the Board prepared to destroy shareholder value in pursuit of the company's "purpose"? 2. Mr. Adams also implied that funds may have been transferred between SPVs. Has this in fact happened? If so, in what magnitude and to and from which SPVs? To the extent that different parties have different economic interests in the various SPVs, how were the relative interests of the parties adjusted to accommodate these flows of funds? Why did the company recently cease providing individual SPV NAVs? Will it provide such information in the future, disaggregated into cash, debt and property? 3. Does the company intend to make public the presentation which we understand it shared with certain shareholders prior to the EGM? 4. In FY 2011, the company reported GBP4.4 million in "share of joint venture and other expenses", up from GBP2.6 million in 2010. What accounts for this increase? What is the breakdown of this expense? In particular, what portion of this expense would likely be borne by buyers of the SPVs, and what portion is in the nature of "other expenses"? 5. In light of the company's proposed automatic winding up date of December 2014, and of Unitech's stated intention of monetizing its investment in the SPVs well before then, what is the company's plan for realizing the value of its assets? 6. We note that the company has not scheduled a conference call in conjunction with the release of its year-end results. Will such a call be held? If not, why not? Contact: Peter M. Collery + 1 (212) 813-3410 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange END
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