a-iTrust – SGX
Upon the completion of the said share acquisition, the Singapore SPV currently holds 89.0% of the total issued share capital of AITPCL.
J.P. Morgan (S.E.A.) Limited (“JPM”) is the sole financial adviser to the Offspring. JPM, Citigroup Global Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. and DBS Bank Ltd are the joint Underwriters and Bookrunners.
a-iTrust – SGX
Singapore, 1 August 2007 – Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust”), Singapore’s first listed Indian property trust, began trading at 2.00 p.m. today on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”).
a-iTrust units (“Units”) opened at S$1.39 each, an 18 per cent increase over its offering price of S$1.18 per Unit. The Units reached a high of S$1.84, and closed at S$1.55 per Unit with a total volume traded of 200 million Units at the close today. The initial public offering of the Units had earlier received overwhelming response with an oversubscription of 20.2 times by retail investors and 46.2 times by institutional investors.
Mr. Jonathan Yap, Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd, the Trustee-Manager of a-iTrust, said, “Despite the overall market weakness today, aiTrust bucked the trend and put in a stellar performance on its trading debut. We are extremely encouraged by this strong show of support from the market. “a-iTrust is proud to bring to Singapore the first Indian property trust that rides on the dynamic growth prospects of India’s business space market. We believe its appeal is supported by its strong assets and substantial growth opportunities, its solid sponsor and team, and attractive potential returns,” Mr. Yap continued.
Seeded by four world-class information technology (“IT”) parks in the high-growth IT and information technology-enabled services (“ITES”) centres of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, a-iTrust possesses Reit-like characteristics that offer investors distribution
stability while the 20 per cent development cap enhances its potential for growth, whether via
its inbuilt pipeline or external acquisitions, in a risk managed manner.
Sponsored by Ascendas Pte Ltd (the “Sponsor”), Asia’s leading provider of business space solutions, a-iTrust enjoys strong support from Ascendas in the form of substantial Sponsor.
Unitholdings at 17 per cent and a right of first refusal over future acquisitions from the Sponsor. a-iTrust also enjoys a first right of refusal over all primarily income-producing business space from Ascendas India Development Trust.
His Excellency Dr. S. Jaishankar, High Commissioner of India to Singapore, who was present at the a-iTrust listing ceremony today, said, “India’s IT and ITES sectors have grown rapidly over the last few years and with expansion comes the need for quality business space and infrastructure. I am pleased that through a-iTrust and with Ascendas’ strong experience in India, investors now have an opportunity to benefit from and invest in India’s continued growth in these sectors.”
Ms. Chong Siak Ching, President and CEO of Ascendas, noted, “Ascendas has been operating in India for over 14 years and we have witnessed the tremendous growth of the Indian economy. a-iTrust underscores our belief in India’s growth prospects and we are committed to supporting a-iTrust over the long term.”
After its admission to the Main Board of the SGX-ST, a-iTrust will make distributions to Unitholders on a semi-annual basis, with the amount calculated as at 31 March and 30 September each year for the six-month period ending on each of these dates. a-iTrust’s first distribution will be for the period from 1 April 2007 to 30 September 2007, and will be paid by the Trustee-Manager on or before 31 December 2007. Subsequent distributions will take place on a semi-annual basis.
India has seen tremendous growth, particularly in the IT and ITES sectors over the past few years. The IT software and services market in India is expected to reach US$60 billion in exports and US$13 billion to US$15 billion in domestic revenues by FY2010.1
J.P. Morgan (S.E.A.) Limited is the sole financial adviser to the Offering and, together with Citigroup Global Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. and DBS Bank Ltd are the joint underwriters and bookrunners.
Allco – SGX
ALLCO REIT TO ACQUIRE COSMO PLAZA, OSAKA, JAPAN
1. Introduction
The Board of Directors of Allco (Singapore) Limited, as manager (“Manager” or “Allco Singapore”) of Allco Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (“Allco REIT”) (SGX:ALLC), wishes to announce that it has signed, via a special purpose vehicle, a sale and purchase agreement with Yugen Kaisha Turtle Property (“Vendor”) on 31 July 2007 (“Agreement”) for the acquisition (“Acquisition”) of Cosmo Plaza, 15, Nankokita 1-chome, Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan (the “Property”).
2. Information on the Property
The Property is located in Nanko Cosmo Square, within Suminoe Ward, Osaka. The Property is linked by undercover sheltered walkways to a train station on the Nanko Port Town Line and to the surrounding buildings including the adjacent 5-star Hyatt Regency Hotel. The Nanko Port Town Line is part of the Mass Transit system of Osaka which currently serves the area from Central Osaka Station to Trade Center – Mae, with a 20 to 25 minute commuting time. Travelling time by taxi from central Osaka to the Property is approximately 15 minutes. The Property is being acquired on an assumed initial property yield of 5.19% for the first twelve
months.
3. Value of the Property
The Property was independently valued at ¥6.57 billion (S$83.3 million(2)) as at 30 May 2007 by K.K. Halifax Associates in accordance with instructions issued by British and Malayan Trustees Limited, as trustee of Allco REIT (“Valuation”). The Valuation was prepared using the cost approach, income capitalisation approach and discounted cash flow analysis.
(1) Calculated as 1 tsubo = 34.5 sq ft (Tsubo is a unit of measure in Japan.)
(2) ¥6.57 billion based on an exchange rate of S$1.00:¥78.9 as at 31 July 2007.
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Cambridge – BT
Cambridge Reit posts Q2 net of $8m
CAMBRIDGE Industrial Trust (CIT) yesterday reported distributable income of $8 million for the second quarter ended June 30, beating its forecast of $6.8 million. Distribution per unit (DPU) is 1.560 cents for the period, said Cambridge Industrial Trust Management (CITM), the manager of the trust. CIT was listed in July last year.
‘We’re pleased that our acquisition efforts are paying off,’ said Ang Poh Seong, CEO of CITM.
CIT’s total net distributable income of $8 million for the quarter represents an annualised yield of 6.62 per cent, based on the closing price of 94.5 cents per unit on June 29, he said.
Annualised DPU of 6.257 cents is 22.2 per cent more than the forecast DPU.
The trust said all its properties are signed with long leases ranging from 5 to 15 years, with fixed rental escalation. The weighted average remaining lease term of CIT’s existing portfolio of 32 properties remained stable at 7.15 years as at the end of June. CIT has a portfolio of 32 properties with 507,800 square metres of lettable area valued at $662.4 million.
About 41.6 per cent of the portfolio is in the logistics and warehousing sector, with the next significant segment in the light industrial space accounting for 32.8 per cent. The remaining properties are represented across a well-diversified spectrum of tenant uses such as car showrooms, self-storage facilities as well as industrial and warehousing.
The overall occupancy of CIT’s portfolio of 32 properties remained at 100 per cent.
CIT said: ‘The demand for quasi-offices will spill into the demand for light industrial space resulting from the current rental pressure on prime office space in the Central Business District.’
Fortune – BT
Fortune Reit H1 profit rises 1.5% to HK$143.3m
FORTUNE Real Estate Investment Trust has reported a net profit – income available for distribution – of HK$143.3 million (S$27.7 million) for the first half of 2007, up 1.5 per cent from a year ago.
Total revenue for the Reit, which holds 11 retail malls in Hong Kong, was down slightly by 0.8 per cent due to vacancies arising from repositioning and asset enhancement initiatives at some of its malls.
The Reit, which is partly owned by Li Ka-Shing’s Hong Kong flagship Cheung Kong Holdings and listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard, has not made any acquisitions since 2005.
Justin Chiu, chairman of ARA Asset Management, which manages the Reit, said, however, that due to the ‘stabilisation of the interest rate environment’, it could now be looking to acquire more properties.
‘We are looking at opportunities in China, but looking at it cautiously,’ he said, adding that ARA was also looking at properties in Hong Kong, and that Cheung Kong has, ‘a lot of properties’.
Fortune Reit has not revealed a target portfolio size. Mr Chiu said: ‘We don’t want to limit ourselves.’
Fortune Reit currently has a gearing ratio of 24.6 per cent. Based on the 35 per cent cap for Reits that are not rated, it estimates that it has a further debt flexibility of about HK$1.5 billion.
Mr Chiu also emphasised that Fortune Reit could raise its gearing to 60 per cent to fund future acquisitions if required. He said the Reit might seek a rating, depending on the size of possible acquisitions. ‘It only takes about a month to get a rating,’ he added.
The portfolio’s base rent also increased by 4.8 per cent to HK$24.54 psf on a year-on-year basis.
Fortune Reit reported yesterday that its annualised tax exempt yield was 5.4 per cent based on the closing unit price of HK$6.60 as at June 29. At the close of trading yesterday, Fortune Reit ended at HK$6.25 per unit, up five cents.
Rental reversion for renewals in H1 was 11 per cent. The better performing malls such as Ma On Shan Plaza, Waldorf Garden Property and City One Shatin Property registered rental reversions of 40 per cent, 18.7 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively.