(Alliance News) - Property investor Vordere PLC on Thursday said it has received an early loan interest payment from JV11 Eiendom AS of around GBP20,000, and called upon shareholders to reject proposals at its upcoming meeting.
The payment concerns a loan amount of NOK9.5 million loan, around GBP800,000, drawn down by JV11 Eiendom. The loan was made by Vordere subsidiary Vordere Capital Sarl in November 2017 and the interest rate is 7% per annum, with a repayment date of November 2022.
JV11 Eiendom is a special purpose vehicle created to acquire and develop freehold property in Sandvika, Norway, with the loan "secured by a first ranking priority mortgage over the property", which generate annual income of around 10% of the loan principal.
After early prepayment of a loan by MV13 Eiendom AS to Vordere at the end of September, this final NOK9.5 million loan is the only remaining secured loan granted by Vordere. The lender and JV11 Eiendom are in talks for possible repayment of the final loan in its entirety with updates to follow.
Vordere Chief Executive Nicholas Hofgren said: "We are very pleased to have received this further payment following on from the early repayment of our other Norwegian loan that we announced on 30 September 2019.
"As we outlined in our trading statement on 7 October 2019 the company has made significant progress in 2019, particularly as a result of the acquisitions announced on 4 July 2019. We are continuing to execute according to our strategy and are confident that we can appropriately utilise our resources to build shareholder value and expand the assets of the business to in excess of GBP100 million before the end of 2019. With no debt and low administration costs, I believe we are very well positioned and I look forward to making further announcements concerning our progress in due course.
"I also look forward to meeting those shareholders who are able to attend our general meeting on 24 October and I would urge those shareholders who have not already done so to read the circular convening the general meeting and to vote against the resolutions proposed."
The meeting was requisitioned by 7.4% shareholder John O'Donnell, who proposed to remove three of Vordere's four current directors and appoint David Irving. Vordere is concerned by Irving's potential appointment because he "has no public limited company governance experience" and is perceived as being associated with "investors and affiliates of Dolphin Trust".
London-headquartered Voredere said that: "In particular in light of the adverse publicity and ongoing investigations into its activities, it is necessary for Vordere to maintain an arm's length relationship with Dolphin Trust."
Shares in Vordere are currently suspended. The company requested that its shares be temporarily suspended from Main Market trading in early July so it could assess its financial position.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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