Othernotices
A Message to stakeholders, tenants and staff
You will aware from my message on 3rd September that we have been seeking additional funding as a matter of urgency. Unfortunately it has not been possible to secure this funding and therefore Alan Bloom, Alan Hudson and Colin Dempster – partners of Ernst & Young – have been appointed today (18 September 2008) as Joint Administrative Receivers of Dunedin Property Capital Fund Limited ("DPCFL") and Dunedin Property Industrial Fund (Holdings) Limited ("DPIF(H)L").
The Administrative Receivers have today issued the following announcement:
"As previously announced by Epic (Industrious) plc, Dunedin Property Industrial Fund (Holdings) Limited ("DPIF(H)L") needed to secure additional funding as soon as possible.
It has however not been possible to secure this funding and therefore on 18 September 2008, following a request from the Board of Directors, Alan Bloom, Alan Hudson and Colin Dempster, partners in Ernst & Young LLP, were appointed Joint Administrative Receivers of Dunedin Property Capital Fund Limited ("DPCFL") and DPIF(H)L.
DPCFL and DPIF(H)L are the holding companies of the group which owns the Industrious portfolio. These companies do not own the property assets of the group nor do they take part in the day-to-day property management and trading activities of the group.
All other companies within the group are unaffected by the appointment and continue to operate as normal under the control of their existing management and directors.
Industrious owns and manages flexible workspace for businesses throughout the UK, with 120 estates providing 10 million square feet of space for industrial, warehouse and office use.
Arrangements have been put in place with the Joint Administrative Receivers so that day-to-day management of the business will continue as before, and staff, tenants and suppliers are unaffected by the appointments. Tenants and suppliers should continue to deal through normal channels. "
Our management team, comprising Albie Fullerton, Gordon Kellie, Richard Fee and Gregor Dunlay, will in the short term be working closely with the Administrative Receivers to ensure that it is business as usual across the Industrious portfolio. We will be ensuring the 1,100 tenants across the portfolio will continue to receive an excellent level of service, and we will continue to collect more than £39 million of annual rent. And in the longer term we will be working to ensure there is a satisfactory outcome for all stakeholders.
BARRY,
Director,
Dunedin Property
A message to stakeholders, tenants and employees of Dunedin Property
You may have seen comment in the property trade press indicating that, in common with most of the UK property sector, Dunedin has experienced a fall in the value of its assets over recent months.
Whilst we have successfully improved our operational performance by bringing property management in-house, increasing overall rental income by 4% in the year to June 2008 and reduced vacancy rates in that period from 20% to 16%, the recent introduction of rates on empty property has had an adverse impact on our financial position, exacerbating the impact of the current tough economic environment.
A consequence of the fall in the value of Dunedin’s portfolio means that we will breach a loan-to-value covenant contained in its super secured loan, which is the subject of a credit default swap arrangement made between our principal bank lender, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and a special purpose company called Epic (Industrious) plc, which has in turn issued Notes to investors.
Dunedin and its financial advisers are currently in discussions with the holders of these Loan Notes and other lenders over a long term resolution of this issue, and in order to seek the short term working capital which will be required shortly, primarily to cover advisory costs associated with resolving these funding issues.
We will keep stakeholders, tenants and employees fully informed as the situation develops, but I would like to re-assure everyone that it is business as usual at Dunedin and at Industrious, our industrial property brand.
In the meantime, stakeholders requiring further information are welcome to contact our financial public relations advisers – Mark Garraway/Gareth David at College Hill (Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020)
ROUN BARRY,
Director,
Dunedin Property
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