GPG mum on Trans Tasman windup bid

By Nick Stride

Friday 26th April 2002

What's GPG up to with its latest call for a windup of Trans Tasman Properties?

Given that a 75% majority of votes will be needed for the proposal to succeed and that TTP's 55% owner, Hong Kong-based SEA Holdings, has on several occasions rejected calls for a windup, GPG's tabling of a special resolution appears doomed to failure.

The guessing game yesterday centred on two possibilities.

One is that GPG has persuaded SEA to change its mind and support a windup.

Although in favour of that theory, SEA wouldn't want to make the proposal itself because it would then be unable to vote its shares, so the company's fate would be determined by the minorities.

Analysts don't favour that scenario because, had SEA and GPG reached agreement, they would most likely simply have announced that was the case.

And long-suffering minority shareholders would be likely to embrace a windup proposal enthusiastically.

The cynics therefore felt scenario B - a little market PR ahead of a GPG exit - was more likely.

Under this scenario GPG, which holds 2.9% of TTP's shares through subsidiary Ithaca, hopes to focus the market's attention on the yawning gap between TTP's share price, which was trading up 2c at 28c at lunchtime on Wednesday, and its net tangible asset backing a share, which GPG appears to think is about 52c.

Sharebrokers noted with interest that UBS Warburg has been a very aggressive buyer of the stock in recent days. It had two undisclosed buyers bidding for shares at 26c.

GPG director Gary Weiss said shareholders were entitled to hear SEA explain its stance.

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