New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group Asks for Fair Proposal
TOKYO, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group today announced that it has learned from various and highly reliable sources that the Development Bank of Japan Inc. has submitted a proposal to be considered by the Court supervising the Civil Rehabilitation process of Japanese REIT New City Residence Investment Corporation (NCRI; former TSE Code prior to delisting: 8965). NCRI was the first Japanese REIT to file for Civil Rehabilitation. The process is being closely watched by individual Japanese investors, Japanese financial regulators, as well as by both domestic and foreign institutional investors and banks.
The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group is made up concerned investors and other parties who seek a fair settlement that provides fair treatment of all stakeholders and the optimum return to all investors, including numerous individual investors. Many of the 8,689 individual Japanese investors who hold investment units in NCRI invested in NCRI to augment their retirement savings in light of concern about Japan's National Pension System. Reportedly, about 75% of investment units of NCRI are directly and indirectly owned by Japanese interests.
The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group has further learned the financial advisors to The Development Bank of Japan are evidently considering two approaches to the bidding process: One approach places an unreasonably low value on the investment units of NCRI in the Civil Rehabilitation process; the other approach values the underlying assets of NCRI significantly higher on a more balanced and fair basis.
The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group has as its direct supporters more than 50% of the outstanding investment units of NCRI. In the last month alone, the New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group Blog ( http://ameblo.jp/ncri/ ) has recorded some 12,066 regular readers (Unique Users), who also in the last 30 days have reviewed over 26,512 pages of information (Unique Page Views) on the NCRI matter. The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group is creating a comprehensive mailing list of individual unit holders to facilitate effective communication with our individual members spread throughout Japan.
The New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group has deep admiration for the Development Bank of Japan and respectfully asks its management and directors to carefully consider doing everything possible to protect the unit holders of NCRI. By formulating a fair and balanced bid, the Development Bank of Japan can not only make an investment that will be profitable, it could also play a critical role in both stabilizing the broader JREIT market, helping to steady Japan's residential housing market, and assuring a fair value for Japanese real estate so as to protect the value of Japanese bank real estate assets. We sincerely request that the broader implications and human impact of the actions of the Development Bank of Japan in regards to this matter be considered very carefully. The investors who have invested their retirement savings in NCRI are dependent on the Development Bank of Japan being fair.
About New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group
Established on November 12, 2008, working on behalf of 8,689 individual unit holders and other stakeholders, the New City Residence Investment Shareholders' Group is a united and cohesive group that is solely focused on the fair resolution of the NCRI Civil Rehabilitation process; please visit ( http://ameblo.jp/ncri/ ). The Group is coordinated by Tobias Josef Brown, Managing Director of UCL Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), who has a proven investment track record and had previously worked for 15 years as Chief Investment Officer for the global investment operations of the late Sir James Goldsmith, and was formerly Chairman of the Noble Group (SGX: NOBL), a global supply chain manager of agricultural, metals, minerals and ores, and energy products. As a contrarian investor, Mr. Brown has been involved in major MBO, M&A, and other strategic investments throughout the Asian Pacific region, and is committed to the principles of good corporate governance.
For further information, please contact Edelman Japan K.K.
Thomas R. Zengage
Tel: +81-3-5530-9300 / +81-3-6403-5200
Mobile: +81 90 4533 5007
Email: thomas.zengage@edelman.com
Kensuke Asami
Tel: +81-3-5530-9300 / +81-3-6403-5225
Mobile: +81-90-2168-1686
Email: kensuke.asami@edelman.com