Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp said on Tuesday shareholders did not approve the company’s plan to sell itself to Equity Commonwealth, following a preliminary count of votes cast at its shareholder meeting.
Separately, Equity Commonwealth said it had terminated the deal and requested reimbursement of fees and expenses pursuant to the terms of the agreement.
Equity Commonwealth had earlier this month agreed to buy Monmouth for a total consideration of $3.4 billion.
Proxy advisors Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis had urged shareholders to vote against Equity Commonwealth’s offer to buy Monmouth, which has rebuffed bids from U.S. investment firm Starwood Capital Group.
Bloomberg News first reported that Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth fell short of the vote tally needed to move ahead with its plan to buy Monmouth.
Final results will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within the next few days.
Source: Reuters.com