Monday 3 December 2012

Macquire International Infrastructure Fund- Special Meeting

The boxing match will be held on 5 December 2012. The current BOD told shareholders to vote against the appointment of new directors nominated from Lim Asia. As for Lim Asia, the reason they are appointing new directors was mainly they have enough of the current BOD which failed to listen to them on the steps to unlock the intrinsic value.

So how should shareholder vote? To answer this question, look at the track record of Lim Asia. Do a quick google and you will find that they are people who are involved in the liquidation of Tau Capital which is a UK based fund investing in companies in Kazakhstan. Tau Capital was pressurized by their shareholders to wind itself up.

My personal thoughts:

For those that bought the stocks for the dividends and do not mind waiting long term (5 years) for the market price to reach it's true intrinsic value, this group of shareholders should vote against the proposed appointment of new directors. The assets of MIIF such as Taiwan Broadband Communications and Changsha Port are good businesses that generate stable income. It is hard to find such high cash generating business.

As for those who wants to exit this investment as soon as possible, then they should vote to appoint the new directors from Lim Asia. 

For myself, I am voting against the appointment of new directors as this will lead to an increase in management cost. There will be additional directors fees plus traveling expenses to conduct Board meetings. There is already financial advisor appointed on recommending a range of alternatives available to the BOD. I do not want to pursue any divestment strategy. But I do believe MIIF should do a refund of excess cash in the form of capital returns since the BOD is unable to do any M&A.