AllCo – BT

Allco cancels US$104m unit offer

SINGAPORE – Allco Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust, a property trust based on Singapore and Australian assets, said on Wednesday it has cancelled a planned preferential offering that would have raised up to $150 million (US$104 million) due to poor market conditions.

The trust said it was not proceeding with its plan, announced on Nov 16, to sell up to 175.2 million units to existing unitholders under a one-for-four preferential offer.

‘There is no pressing need for Allco Reit to be raising capital at this time,’ Nicholas McGrath, chief executive officer of Allco Reit’s manager, said in a statement.

Rising risk aversion has turned off investors from yield-driven property and asset trusts, sparking the cancellation of two major initial public offers in Singapore worth a combined US$800 million earlier this month.

An aircraft lease backed by a unit of General Electric and a real estate investment trust by Japanese developer Asia Pacific Land Group postponed their Singapore IPOs after a disastrous market debut by Saizen Reit, whose units fell 13 per cent on its Nov 2 debut. — REUTERS