Property developer Stockland is renewing calls on rival Australand to open its books so it can pursue its $2.4 billion takeover offer.
Releasing its latest market update, Stockland reaffirmed its expectations of a six per cent rise in earnings per share this financial year.
The developer said residential deposits for the year to the end of March had been the strongest the group had recorded for that period in four years.
Its residential business collected 1,500 net deposits during the quarter, with particularly strong demand in Queensland.
Chief executive Mark Steinert said the group's latest financial update clearly demonstrated it was achieving strong organic growth and was well placed to benefit from improving economic conditions.
He said Stockland believed its offer for Australand was highly compelling and would enable both companies to benefit from synergies and strong, sustainable growth prospects.
"We believe it is in the best interests of Australand securityholders for its board to provide access to due diligence and engage productively with us to seek a mutually beneficial outcome," Mr Steinert said.
However, he reiterated Stockland was prepared to walk away from a deal if price expectations among Australand securityholders were too high.
Australand's board believes a share-swap takeover proposal presented by Stockland is not in the best interests of Australand securityholders.
It also has rejected a request from Stockland to open its books and enable Stockland to carry out due diligence on a potential merger.
Stockland has proposed to offer 1.111 of its securities for each Australand security, valuing them at $4.20 each.