Shares in Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) have tumbled after an 18% shareholder demanded a halt to its wind-down which it claimed was damaging to investors and the stock traded ex-dividend ahead of a return of capital.

Polish logistics developer DL Invest has called for a general meeting of shareholders to halt the further sale of assets and to consider appointing it to run the company under a new growth strategy.

After an early spike on Friday, ASLI shares turned south dropping from 35.9p to 33.3p before recovering to close the week at 34.3p. They have slumped again this morning, down over 11p, or 32%, to 24p to reflect a 10p per share distribution being made this month.

“We believe that shareholders would benefit from returning ASLI to a growth trajectory, with the potential to deliver superior long-term value to its shareholders, based on ASLI’s existing portfolio, an enhanced asset management approach and the continued expansion of the portfolio with additional properties,” DL Invest said in a statement to the stock exchange.

In an open letter to shareholders, DL founder and chief executive Dominik Leszczyński said: “ASLI holds a valuable position as a listed European logistics platform, and we believe the company should not be liquidated at a cyclical low point in logistics valuations.”

DL Invest said it had decided to appeal directly to shareholders after weeks of “protracted private engagement” with the ASLI board chaired by Tony Roper, who is also having a busy time running the board at Saba target SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (SEIT).

ASLI is in the middle of returning £41m to shareholders and went ex-dividend today on the 10p per share distributing being made through the issue of new “B”-shares that will be redeemed on Wednesday with the money paid out on 30 December. This is its fourth distribution this year, taking the total payout from asset disposals to £160m. The shares went ex-dividend today and that will have accounted

DL Invest’s intervention follows the sale last month of three properties in Poland. The €84m disposal of multi-let warehouse estates in Krakow, Lodz and Warsaw represented 5% discount to their 30 June valuation.

Having suffered from a long-standing share price discount, the company began a strategic review in November 2023 and proposed a managed wind-down the following May that shareholders subsequently approved.

Our view

Richard Williams, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “It seems obvious that the managed wind-down will not achieve anywhere near close to full value due to the vendor’s ‘forced seller’ tag and timeframe pressures. Shareholders ought to have known this when voting for the managed wind-down and factored this into their decision. We were always against the wind-up of ASLI, arguing that it came at the worst possible time at the bottom of the market. Again, shareholders knew this when voting for it. We agree that there is now a hole in the London-listed REIT space for a property company focused on European logistics, but we’re not sure whether ASLI is the right vehicle to plug it with just seven assets left, all of which are close to being sold.”