A €43 million offer to MIDI plc shareholders for Manoel Island and Fort Tigne will be put to a vote at a company meeting scheduled for April 28.
MIDI plc announced the extraordinary general meeting in a company announcement on Wednesday morning.
The EGM will be held at 3pm at The Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana and shareholders will be asked if they approve a deal reached between the government and MIDI’s board last month.
That deal, which has already been approved by parliament, will see MIDI paid a net sum of €43 million to cancel an ongoing 99-year lease of Manoel Island and Fort Tigne.
MIDI initially intended to develop Manoel Island into a mixed use project including a hotel, apartments and retail outlets but backed away from that plan following pressure from activists, who pushed for the area to become a national park.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has now backed that national park plan.
Both sides entered negotiations last year but the clock was ticking on a deal, as an outstanding €50 million bond issued by MIDI will expire in the summer.
MIDI said on Wednesday that it will be issuing another company announcement featuring the text of the resolution to be put to shareholders during the EGM, as well as a detailed explanation of the proposed transaction and the company board’s recommendation.
Shareholders must be registered on the company’s register of members by the close of business of March 27 tyo be eligible to participate in the EGM.
Voting will be done in person or via a proxy.
MIDI began as a private consortium but went public in 2010. The company was originally granted 99-year leases for both Manoel Island and Tigne Point. Its original deal bound it to have “substantially completed” works at Manoel Island by 2023 but the company argued that permit delays outside its control made that impossible.
Its main shareholders are Alf Mizzi & Sons Ltd, Mapre MSV Life Plc, Gasan Enterprises Limited, Mark Weingard and Rizzo Farrugia & Co. Ltd.
