ESR Group Limited and e-Shang Infinity Cayman Limited have filed an application in the Singapore High Court to halt the EGM that would have been held for unitholders of Sabana REIT.

The application was filed on 7 July and it seeks to declare the requisition notice filed by another substantial unitholder, Quarz Capital Asia, as invalid.

Related: Sabana REIT receives requisition notice in another attempt to remove manager

ESR Group is the largest unitholder of Sabana REIT, while e-Shang Infinity Cayman is an affiliated company of ESR Group.

Additionally, ESR Group owns the manager of Sabana REIT.

In June 2023, Quarz Capital filed a requisition notice to Sabana REIT calling for an EGM.

Among stated intentions behind the requisition notice is to remove the REIT’s manager and internalise Sabana REIT’s management functions.

These measures would have been effected via resolutions, which would have been either approved or rejected by unitholders at the intended EGM via polling.

In its High Court application, ESR and e-Shang Infinity Cayman is seeking to declare Quarz’s requisition notice as invalid, because one of the resolutions have been proposed as an ordinary resolution.

Furthermore, the requisition notice contains false and misleading statements, the application noted.

Pending the High Court's ruling on this application, ESR Group and e-Shang Infinity Cayman is also seeking an interim injunction to restrain the REIT’s manager from convening an EGM.

As such, the EGM that would have been covered on 4 August, would now not proceed.

The manager will provide further updates on the court applications in the event of material developments in respect of the same”, said Sabana REIT’s manager.

In a prepared statement for the media, ESR Group stated that it “would not be constructive for there to be protracted public discourse over this present dispute, which has also allowed for the continued perpetuation of the false and misleading statements by Quarz”.

“As the Sabana manager has not taken a conclusive position on the dispute, we have been compelled to commence proceedings in court to seek a swift and decisive determination”, said ESR.

Sabana REIT was last done on the Singapore Exchange at SGD0.425 before the trading halt on 7 July, which presently implies a distribution yield of 7.18% according to data on the Singapore REITs table.