MIDI plc has entered into a public deed with the Government of Malta and Transport Malta for the rescission and termination of the Emphyteutical Concession over Manoel Island and Fort Tigné.

This, the company said, results in the return of the aforementioned sites to the government.

MIDI said that the transaction received shareholders’ approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 28th April 2026.

The transaction will reportedly see the government reimburse €47.3 million (including the reimbursable VAT payable as a result of the Partial Rescission) to MIDI.

The settlement deal does not affect the emphyteutical concession over the Tigné Point Site (with the exclusion of the Fort Tigné Site), which remains in full force and effect.

In 2000, MIDI p.l.c. had been granted a 99-year Emphyteutical Concession over Manoel Island and Tigné Point for mixed-use development, together with the right to develop and operate a yachting centre.

The company, in a Circular that had been provided to shareholders, had said that the project was originally required to be substantially completed by 31 March 2023, with a three-year cure period until 31 March 2026.

MIDI said that the deed expressly provided for automatic extensions of the completion date where delays arose from circumstances beyond the parties' control, and MIDI contends that the various delays encountered resulted in such automatic extensions.

It said that the proposed development of Manoel Island suffered a number of unforeseen setbacks which it said were outside the Company's control, falling into three broad categories: delays in the issuance of development permits and authorisations; delays arising from archaeological discoveries requiring the redesign of the development; and delays arising from protracted administrative and appellate processes initiated by third parties.

The company holds that the cumulative effect of these delays is the basis for the company's position that the correct completion date under the Deed had been automatically extended by at least 10 years as at June 2025.

Public calls for Manoel Island to be returned to the public and opened as a national park gained steam, and a petition to have the site returned to the public garnered around 29,000 signatures.

In June 2025, the Government withdrew its support for the Manoel Island project and publicly declared its intention to convert the island into a national park.

MIDI said that given this change of stance, pursuing development through litigation alone would have been an “inadequate and ultimately futile strategy, regardless of the merits of the Company's legal position, as a development of this scale and complexity cannot succeed without the active support of Government at every level.”

In its circular, MIDI told shareholders that it regarded the Company's legal position on the extension point as a strong one, supported by the terms of the Deed.

“The decision not to litigate was made on practical and financial grounds alone — specifically, the impossibility of obtaining a judgment within the Bond redemption timeframe — and not because of any weakness in the Company's legal case. The Company's obligations to its bondholders crystallise on 27 July 2026, and no Maltese court proceedings of the nature required to challenge a threatened rescission of an emphyteutical concession could realistically be concluded within such a timeframe. The judgment would have arrived too late to prevent insolvency.”

MIDI had told shareholders that its Board regards the reimbursement amount as inadequate but, given the absence of any viable alternative, reluctantly accepts it in the circumstances.

It said that “the terms ultimately agreed upon do not reflect the merits of the respective positions of the parties, but rather the significant disparity in negotiating power that prevailed throughout the negotiation process."