Westfield's attempts to convince investors in Westfield Retail Trust to vote in favour of its $70 billion restructure proposal have met fresh resistance ahead of an investor presentation next week, according to sources.
It is understood that a recent survey of investors in Westfield Retail Trust conducted by leading industry brokerage CLSA found investor discontent against the proposal had grown considerably.
Two fund managers who participated in the survey said the survey clearly showed that more than 25 per cent of investors in WRT were planning to vote against the proposal.
Under the proposal, the group’s Australian and New Zealand shopping centre businesses will be merged into Westfield Retail Trust to form a new listed company called Scentre Group.
Westfield, in which the Lowy family will keep an 8 per cent stake, will retain its US, British and European interests and focus on developments and investments in these higher growth areas.
The transaction needs 75 per cent approval from Westfield Retail Trust investors to pass.
The highly regarded analysts at CLSA have previously predicted that about 15 per cent of investors are not in favour of the deal, but a fresh survey taken this week, the details of which were released to clients on Friday evening, found that investor discontent against the proposal was growing.
CLSA declined to comment on the survey.
A fund manager who attended the meeting but declined to be named said if the survey were any indication of how investors would vote on the day, then the proposal would not be passed.
Another fund manager told The Australian that they were not surprised and believed much of the discontent was coming from usually passive superannuation funds that bought into the stock when it was formed in 2010 in a previous Westfield restructure.
The creation of WRT also faced investor discontent, but the proposal passed.
The fund manager added that the proposal could succeed if proxy advisers deemed it as being not fair but still in the best interests of shareholders.
It is understood that at least two major proxy advisory firms are yet to assess the proposal, waiting until the full explanatory memorandum is released at the end of April.
Next week, Westfield’s top Australian executives will again meet with local investors in an attempt to assuage concerns about the restructure.
The meeting will be hosted by incoming Scentre chief executive and long-time Westfield heavyweight Peter Allen and his management team.