Civitas Social Housing PLC (LSE:CSH) has lowered the minimum shareholder voting threshold to facilitate the £485 million private acquisition bid from CK Asset Holding. The required percentage of voting rights has been decreased from 75% to 50%, essentially making the offer unconditional as CK Asset Holdings has already acquired over 60% of voting rights.

Civitas confirmed that “the amended acceptance condition has been satisfied” and it is likely that Civitas will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange. Any remaining shareholders will essentially become minority shareholders in a majority-owned private entity, without access to market liquidity. They may not be able to sell their stake unless CK Asset Holdings extends an offer.

If CK Asset Holdings succeeds in acquiring more than 90% of the outstanding shares, the Cayman Islands-registered property developer will automatically take control of the remaining shares.

Civitas started losing market value after a short-selling attack in August 2021 by the alternative investment manager Shadowfall Capital, which criticized Civitas’ business model, property transactions, director relationships, and dividend policy. The company’s shares fell by as much as 50% after the report, but regained some ground after the announcement of CK Bidco’s all-cash offer for the group on May 9 of this year.

At the time of writing, Civitas shares were trading at 80p, approximately a third lower than their all-time high.