Abrdn Euro Logistics shareholders shoot down bid to relaunch trust

Investors in Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) have voted decisively against the reversal of its disposal plan, with nearly 75% of votes cast in favour of staying the course and returning cash to shareholders.

In a requisitioned general meeting last Friday, in which holders of nearly three quarters of issued share capital had their say, 74.6% of voters were against resolutions from DL Invest to resuscitate the trust and replace Aberdeen as manager. 

Excluding DL Invest’s own votes, only 0.9% supported the proposals. 

The Polish Logistics group joined the register of the now £114m real estate investment trust last autumn, becoming the largest shareholder with a just under 18% stake. 

In December, it voiced complaints that shareholders would suffer an ‘irreversible loss’ if the board continued to sell the portfolio, market conditions having improved considerably since the process began in July 2024. It proposed a pivot back to the trust’s initial growth strategy aiming to scale the fund to a €1.5bn platform within two years.

The ASLI board, led by chair Tony Roper, dismissed the proposals as a costly distraction that arrived too late - the trust was already 85% of the way through its liquidation with 23 of its 27 original assets sold. 

Roper said the result of the vote ‘reaffirms the strong shareholder support for the managed wind-down’.

‘As the company enters the concluding stages of this process, we can now focus on successfully completing the final four asset sales, which are at an advanced stage, and returning the remaining capital to shareholders in a timely manner,’ he said. 

The board has previously stated it expects the remaining disposals to complete over the coming months.