PROXY adviser Glass Lewis has recommended that unitholders of Sabana Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) vote against the director candidates put up by requisitioners of an upcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM) this Friday (Oct 18), citing a lack of detail provided by the requisitionists on the candidates.
Instead, Glass Lewis said unitholders should vote in favour of the candidates put up by the trustee of Sabana Reit at the meeting, where they will decide on the appointment of directors to the board of the newly internalised manager of the Reit.
The recommendation, which was published in a proxy paper on Oct 13, adds to an ongoing debate between the requisitionists and the trustee on each other’s choice of candidates.
To recap, five unitholders, led by Quarz Capital, requisitioned the manager on Aug 12 to convene the meeting, at which six candidates were nominated.
The six include consultant Lim Hock Chuan, corporate finance and investment professional Bhavik Umesh Doshi, and group chief financial officer and board member of investment company Volare Group Konrad Duttwiler.
The other three are activist investor Quarz Capital’s founder Jan Moermann and director Havard Chi, as well as Saha Anshuman Manabendranath, who previously worked at IT consulting company Pan Asia Resources.
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The trustee’s candidates are independent real estate and investment consultant Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, New Financial Holdings’ managing director of asset management Jimmy Chan, and independent adviser Sandip Talukdar.
In its proxy paper, Glass Lewis said that there was a lack of detail provided on why unitholders should support the requisitionists’ candidates.
“In our view, the requisitionists have not provided a detailed rationale for the unitholder to support (their) candidates for the internalised manager. Here, we believe shareholders should support the candidates independently identified by the trustee, at this time.”
However, Glass Lewis also noted that the trustee had selected its director candidates based on “robust criteria” which took into account several factors, including the candidate’s industry experience, motivation for the role, and potential contribution towards the newly internalised management structure.
The trustee also factored in the diversity of the board members, considering the gender and functional experience of the candidates, among other criteria, the proxy adviser noted.
It added that the trustee assessed the reputation of each candidate based on the results of independent background checks.
Glass Lewis highlighted the trustee’s argument that there remains uncertainty over how the appointment of the requisitionists’ director candidates would affect the new Reit manager’s application for a capital markets services licence.
The proxy adviser also noted how the trustee had indicated that background checks on the requisitionists’ candidates have not yet been completed.
The EGM will be held at 10.30 am at Hope@New Tech Park in Lorong Chuan.
Sabana Reit units were trading 1.3 per cent, or S$0.005, lower at S$0.38 as at 3.30 pm on Tuesday.
