Sabana REIT not negligent in duties: trustee

HSBC Institutional Trust Services rejects claim in a statement.

HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore), trustee of Sabana REIT, claims that nothing suggests that the Sabana manager has breached or failed to comply with relevant trust deed provisions of the Sabana REIT and ESR-REIT proposed merger.

The statement was warranted by letters dated 3 September and 29 September from Quarz Capital Management and Black Crane Capital.

According to the trustee, the letters have queried whether the Sabana manager failed to obey the terms of the trust deed to the prejudice of Sabana REIT unitholders.

The Sabana manager board did not have any representation of directors from ESR Cayman or the ESR-REIT manager, and there was no overlap in the respective management teams of the Sabana manager and ESR-REIT manager.

Moreover, the trustee said that “there was nothing to suggest that the Sabana manager proceeded with negotiations on the relevant transaction documents other than on an arm’s length basis.”