Pinkenba on the Brisbane River is one of GrainCorp’s three Australian malting plants which will shift to the UMG portfolio with the pending demerger of GrainCorp’s global malting assets. Photo: GrainCorp

GRAINCORP shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed demerger of United Malt Group Limited (UMG) from GrainCorp at the the company’s Demerger Scheme Meeting and General Meeting held in Sydney today.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank our shareholders for their overwhelming support,” GrainCorp chairman Graham Bradley said.

“The demerger has the potential to unlock significant value for shareholders, with GrainCorp and United Malt having strong foundations for success and growth,” Mr Bradley said.

GrainCorp will now seek orders from the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) to approve the scheme of arrangement to give effect to the demerger at a hearing scheduled to take place on Friday.

If this approval is granted, GrainCorp intends to lodge the orders of the FCA with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 23 March.

If this occurs, the demerger scheme will become effective that day, and UMG shares are expected to commence trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on a deferred-settlement basis on 24 March ahead of UMG shares becoming tradable on a normal-settlement basis on 2 April.

The time and date for determining entitlements to UMG shares under the demerger is 7pm AEDT on 25 March.

Implementation of the demerger, and the transfer of UMG shares to GrainCorp shareholders who held GrainCorp Shares at the Demerger Scheme Record Date, is expected to occur on 1 April.

Details of the planned demerger were outlined to GrainCorp shareholders last month.

Source: GrainCorp