If unit-holders approve the transaction, Prima's listing on JSE will be suspended on October 31.

ApexHi and Prima announced in July that ApexHi had made an offer to acquire Prima's property portfolio for R996,2m.

The amount would be settled by the issue of 37,989,144 ApexHi A units and 37,989,144 B units at R20 a combined unit and R236,4m in cash.

Property portfolio management company Provest said the acquisition was a strategically good move because the listed property sector needed to consolidate to create larger, more liquid funds that appealed to international investors.

The deal would expand ApexHi's property asset base to more than R5bn, and make retail property dominant in its portfolio.

Prima's strategy had been to build a large portfolio of properties, including shopping centres, offices and industrial properties, that were each valued at not less than R2m or more than R15m.

Prima management said earlier that it would be difficult to continue growing the fund, which had increased from about R100m to almost R1bn, partly because of the decline in interest rates and property yields.

Following the deal, Prima unit-holders would have an investment in the far larger portfolio of ApexHi, that would offer critical mass.

An analyst said earlier the offer was fair, translating into about R1,25 for every Prima unit.

ApexHi would carry the costs of unwinding Prima.