PCRT – BT

Perennial China said to raise $784m in IPO

PERENNIAL China Retail Trust has raised $784 million in an initial public offering (IPO) that was postponed in March because of stockmarket volatility, a person with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

The Singapore-based business trust is selling 1.1 billion units at $0.70 apiece, the bottom end of a range marketed to investors, the person said, requesting anonymity because the pricing hasn’t been publicly announced. Perennial, which owns Chinese malls, had marketed the units at $0.70 to $0.76.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell to a two-month low on Wednesday as Greece’s debt crisis intensified, Japan’s economy contracted, and disappointing US economic data fuelled concern about the global recovery. In Singapore, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust – which completed Southeast Asia’s biggest IPO in March – has fallen almost 10 per cent below its offer price.

Perennial China is managed by Pua Seck Guan, former CEO of the manager of CapitaMall Trust, Singapore’s first property trust. CapitaMall shares posted a record decline in September 2008 after Mr Pua’s resignation.

The IPO includes five properties in Shenyang, Foshan and Chengdu, the company said in a prospectus filed last week. Perennial plans to use the funds raised to develop malls in China, and said investors in the offering will benefit from retail sales growth in the country.

The units are scheduled to start trading on June 8. – Bloomberg