Aussie Trust: Counteroffer Not Superior

Australia's General Property Trust says a third party it hired to objectively review the matter has determined that the counteroffer for a merger made by Stockland Trust is not superior to Lend Lease's prior agreement to acquire GPT.The review by the independent expert, Grant Samuel, clears the way for the Lend Lease deal to proceed unless an offer that GPT or its shareholders consider "superior" is made before that deal reaches its final approval stage. "Under the Merger Implementation Agreement entered into between GPT and Lend Lease, the GPT Independent Directors are not permitted to change their existing unanimous recommendation in favour of the Lend Lease proposal unless a proposal emerges which the GPT Independent Directors consider superior to the Lend Lease proposal," GPT reported. Stockland said it would "maintain" its offer. "We continue to believe that the Stockland offer is the superior proposal," Stockland said.