SINGAPORE - Dasin Retail Trust (DRT) has fired Ms Wang Qiu, the chief executive of its trustee-manager.
On Feb 17, the trustee-manager said it had given notice of termination to Ms Wang, with effect from Feb 14. It did not give reasons for its decision.
This comes after the trustee-manager fired its previous chief investment officer Lu Zhiqi, who demanded outstanding payments totalling over $780,000 allegedly owed by the trustee-manager.
Two of its directors, Dr Cao Yong and Mr Zhang Zhencheng, have disagreed with the termination of Ms Wang’s services, said Dasin Retail Trust Management (DRTM).
Changes in the leadership of the trustee-manager come ahead of a proposed extraordinary general meeting (EGM) convened by minority unit holders of Dasin Retail Trust, who seek to remove DRTM and appoint an internal trustee-manager. The EGM is scheduled for Feb 19.
On Feb 18, DRTM declared that the proposed EGM was “invalid”, following the advice of the trustee-manager’s lawyers.
DRTM said the notice of requisition must be signed by the unit holders and deposited at its office. It noted that it had received a copy of the signed notice only on Feb 17 via e-mail, even though the unit holders had already decided it would proceed with the proposed EGM on or before Feb 14.
The notice was purportedly “delivered by hand to the trustee-manager on Feb 17, being a Saturday, which is a non-working day for the trustee-manager”, DRTM said. “As the requisition notices do not comply with the requirements, the requisition notices and the notice of EGM are invalid,” said DRTM.
However, two of DRT’s directors, Dr Cao and Mr Zhang, have disagreed with this view, arguing that the EGM should be allowed to continue.
Dr Cao, who is one of DRT’s independent directors, said that the unit holders have obtained the signatures of the legal holders of their units.
“Since they have received the signatures, the trustee-manager should allow unit holders to attend the meeting if they wish,” he said.
He added: “The EGM involves a resolution which concerns the termination of the trustee manager. If so, the trustee-manager itself is not independent to provide its advice to the unit holders on matters concerning the EGM.”
Mr Zhang, whose family trust is the largest unit holder in Dasin with a stake of about 43 per cent, argued that DRTM was using “procedural loopholes” to determine that the EGM was invalid, even though the identity of the unit holders had been confirmed.
Mr Zhang said: “Now all minority unit holders who need signature confirmations from nominees have obtained signature confirmations 48 hours before the EGM.
“Any obstruction will only deliberately postpone the EGM that will definitely be held, and will ultimately only… harm the interests of minority unit holders,” he added.
DRTM said the remaining members of its board agreed with its lawyers’ view that the proposed EGM was invalid.
It said: “The majority directors urge all unit holders to ignore the proposed EGM, and not attend it.” THE BUSINESS TIMES
