Parkway Life – CNA

Parkway Life REIT launches IPO at S$1.28 a unit

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s largest private hospital operator Parkway Holdings has launched the IPO of its healthcare real estate investment trust. It is offering 288.9 million units at S$1.28 each. Parkway is hoping to raise nearly S$370 million for acquisitions in its key markets of Singapore, Malaysia, India and China.

Parkway Life REIT is starting out with a portfolio of three hospitals – Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth and East Shore. It includes 68 medical offices and 559 parking lots and is worth some S$775 million.

It expects to deliver an annualised distribution yield of 4.74% a unit for 2007. It’s forecasting distribution yields of 4.88% for 2008 and 5% for 2009.

Besides enhancing existing assets to grow, the trust manager says it’s looking to acquire other hospitals and health care-related assets. These include surgery centres, nursing wards, as well as warehouses and logistics facilities. For now, it’s targeting four key Asian markets and a total of 356 medical offices worth over $1 billion in Singapore.

“I’m comfortable to say that over the course of the next two years, we’ll be doubling the size of the asset base of the REIT. Our tier one markets are Singapore, Malaysia, India and China. Our pipeline of acquisitions is heavily weighted towards third-party acquisitions. And we’ve also got immediate opportunities we’re looking at in Singapore,” says Justine Wingrove, CEO of Parkway Trust Management.

The IPO closes on August 13, with trading scheduled to begin on August 23. – CNA /ls