Hyprop vs PK Investments: A competitive landscape for MAS shareholders

SOUTH African REIT, Hyprop Investments, on Friday formally entered the bidding for JSE-listed Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) retail and mixed-use property company MAS, by releasing the terms of a share and cash offer.

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Hyprop said its offer was better for MAS' shareholders than the last offer by MAS' major shareholder and joint venture partner Prime Kapital Investments (PKI) because voluntary bid participants in the Hyprop offer could expect to easily convert their share consideration into cash should they wish, after the deal is done.

"This is in contrast to the unknown liquidity of the instruments being proposed for an offer to MAS shareholders in terms of the intended bid by PKI Limited," Hyprop's directors said.

Hyprop and the PKI bids add to the MAS board's current complex workload, as there is also a dispute between MAS directors and PKI about the terms of their joint venture development agreement, while a number of South African minority shareholders also want to replace and appoint new board members in MAS.