New York REIT Stockholders Approve Plan of Liquidation
Stockholders of New York REIT Inc. (NYSE: NYRT), a former non-traded real estate investment trust known as American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT, approved the company’s plan of liquidation and dissolution at the special meeting of stockholders held yesterday.
More than 99 percent of the shares of NYRT common stock voted in favor of the proposal, with nearly 114 million votes for the liquidation and 326,000 votes against.
“We are pleased with the outcome of today’s vote, and I would like to thank all of NYRT’s stockholders for their support throughout this process,” said Randolph Read, chairman of the board. “We look forward to executing the plan of liquidation with the goal of maximizing value for all stockholders expeditiously.”
The company also noted that at its annual meeting of stockholders held last month, all nine existing directors were reelected to the board of directors.
New York REIT terminated its proposed merger with private real estate firm JBG Companies in August. The proposal was heavily criticized by a number of shareholders including WW Investors, an entity jointly owned by Michael Ashner and Steven Witkoff, who own a combined 1.2 million shares of NYRT stock.
In October, New York REIT reached a settlement agreement with Ashner and Witkoff and agreed to expand its board of directors to nine members to include James Hoffmann, Gregory Hughes and Craig Bouchard as new independent directors.
The company’s plan of liquidation involves selling its real estate and real estate related assets, paying its liabilities, distributing cash and the net proceeds of the liquidation to stockholders, winding up operations, and dissolving the company.
The REIT has estimated that the net proceeds that will be distributed to stockholders over time from the plan of liquidation will be between $8.49 and $11.26 per share.
NYRT is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns 19 commercial real estate properties, including office and retail properties, located in New York City. Shares of NYRT closed at $9.82 on Wednesday.
