This is an email I wrote to management that I sent last weekend with no response at all so far:
Hi Guys,
I hope that everything is going well.
I just wanted to pass along some shareholder feedback considering the disappointing announcement (and market reaction to) the cap raising at 360 Total Return Fund.
I've just sent back my paperwork and will participate in the offer which I hope will be an early step in the right direction of getting the fund back on track however I think that some of the circumstances leading up to this announcement have been disappointing for shareholders.
1. At the time of the last set of results in August the fund gave no indication of how tight things were getting in terms of the covenants and instead talked about increasing scale, providing diversification and improving investor appetite. It was also stated that TOT now had the opportunity to undertake transactions due to the decline in valuations across the smaller REIT space. I think this was really odd language to include considering the existing portfolio valuations were already declining at that point and it was very clear that TOT was paying out in dividends far more than it was taking in from property rentals making the pay out unsustainable going forward (once again this was never flagged up in announcements).
2. Could you please elaborate on the increase in borrowings required to pay the December tax liabilities on the Irongate transaction? I certainly wasn't factoring this in when thinking about how falling property values would effect TOTs gearing level. Do you think this upcoming obligation could have been made more clear to shareholders?
3. It's my understanding that TGP received a 2.5 million dollar acquisition fee as part of the Irongate asset swap deal which has resulted in a pretty stunning NTA decline of $1.26 at the time of the deal to most likely ending up around the 75c mark with the strong possibility of further write downs to come. Considering the very poor outcome for shareholders that has resulted since the deal would TGP consider a partial refund of this fee or temporary reduction in management fees as a gesture of alignment?
4. I've passed this feedback on before but I really don't feel like the shareholder engagement at the company is satisfactory particularly at a time such as now where shareholders are being asked to tip in quite a substantial amount of extra capital to keep things afloat. This would have been the perfect time for a general meeting or webinar of some description to acknowledge the financially suffering shareholders and answer their questions on how things are going to get back on track. I think improving the engagement will continue to be important going forward as TOT (hopefully) beings to rebuild it's asset value and share price.
Thank you for reading and I hope to hear back from you soon,
(20min delay)