omniture

New City Residence Investment Corporation Shareholders’ Group Established

New City Residence Investment Corporation
2008-11-11 16:49 1369

TOKYO, Nov. 11 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tobias Josef Brown, Managing Director of UCL Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), who is among the largest shareholders of New City Residence Investment Corporation (NCRI) holding about 8.3% of its stock, today announced the establishment of the NCRI Shareholders’ Group.

Aligned with the principals of good corporate governance, the objective of the NCRI Shareholders Group is to protect the rights of all NCRI unit holders, including NCRI’s numerous individual investors.

New City Residence Investment Corporation, a Japan based real estate investment trust (J REIT), filed for civil rehabilitation proceedings on October 9, 2008, and was de-listed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE Code 8965) as of November 10, 2008.

The NCRI Shareholders’ Group has the utmost respect for the civil rehabilitation proceedings being administered by the Japanese courts. J REITS were originally intended to be a relatively safe income yielding investment security for retired individual investments, pension funds, and other conservative investors. As such, Japanese courts and other interested parties have a particular obligation to protect unit holders.

Importantly, the NCRI Shareholders’ Group believes that the interests of all stakeholders, including investors, employees, and creditors, would be best served by the appointment of strong independent management of NCRI. Such independent management would be free of connections with NCRI sponsor and also have close ties to and be highly respected by the local Japanese banking and business community.

According to Tobias Josef Brown, "NCRI is Japan’s second largest residential J-REIT. Most of its relatively new real estate assets are located in Tokyo’s 23 wards, mainly in the most central areas of the city. Although now in civil rehabilitation proceedings, NCRI still has substantial equity on its books. Accordingly, it is vital that all unit holders, including numerous individual investors, receive the optimum value on their unit holdings. We call upon Nikko Citigroup Limited, NCRI’s financial advisor, the Japanese courts, and other interested parties to make sound judgments to fairly protect all stakeholders, regardless of whether they are Japanese, non-Japanese, institutions, or individuals."

Tobias Josef Brown, Managing Director of UCL Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong) 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 / +81-3-6403-5202

Mobile: +81-90-4533-5007

Email: thomas.zengage@edelman.com

Nanami Soga

Tel: +81-3-5530-9300 / +81-3-6403-5200

Mobile: +81-80-2010-8363

Email: nanami.soga@edelman.com

Source: New City Residence Investment Corporation
collection