LONDON (Alliance News) - Arricano Real Estate PLC Tuesday said the London Court of International Arbitration tribunal has made an award declaring that Arricano validly exercised a call option in 2010 whereby it sought to acquire the remaining 50.03% stake in the Sky Mall shopping centre in Kiev, Ukraine that it does not already own.
Arricano currently has a 49.97% stake in the shopping centre, which was opened in 2007, with the remaining stake held by Stockman Interhold SA.
When the site was constructed it was agreed that Arricano would have the right to acquire the remaining stake in the shopping centre at a pre-agreed valuation of between USD51 million and USD56 million, dependent on the timing of the Sky Mall call option. Arricano Tuesday said the price of the option exercise was USD51.4 million.
In November 2010, Arricano sought to exercise its right to buy the remaining shareholding. However, the buyout was suspended by legal proceedings initiated by Stockman.
Stockman initiated arbitration proceeding against Arricano in relation to the validity of the termination of the agreement on the Sky Mall call option. The case was under consideration by the London Court of International Arbitration.
Arricano subsequently initiated arbitration proceeding against Stockman in relation to the validity of the termination of the shareholders agreement between the parties.
Due to these arbitration proceedings between Arricano and Stockman, the call option was not exercised as at December 31, 2010.
Arricano said Tuesday that the market value of the shopping centre at the end of 2013 was USD209.4 million, while the book value of the company's interest in the property at December 31 was USD20.7 million.
The company said it intends to proceed with acquiring the remaining interest in the site as soon as practicable.
Arricano shares were quoted down 3.5% at USD2.34 Tuesday afternoon.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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