Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Amara mulls launch of hospitality Reit

Amara mulls launch of hospitality Reit

AMARA Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based hotel operator, may sell
hospitality assets as a real estate investment trust (Reit).
A "Reit has always been one of the options that one can consider to
go asset-light," the company said in an e-mailed response to questions
from Bloomberg News. "There are no concrete plans at the moment
and we are continuously evaluating all options including the feasibility
of launching a hospitality Reit."

Amara, led by chief executive officer Albert Teo, is considering putting
its 27-year-old Amara Singapore Hotel, along with the adjacent 100 AM
shopping mall and Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa into a Reit and
selling the assets in an initial public offering (IPO), according to a person
with knowledge of the matter.
The IPO could take place next year, the person said, asking not to be
identified as the deliberations are private. Amara declined to comment
on any IPO plans.

Source: Business Times

Vingroup temporarily delays Singapore IPO

Vingroup temporarily delays Singapore IPO

VietNamNet Bridge – Vingroup Joint Stock Company (Vingroup JSC)
will temporarily delay its plans to sell shares and have them traded in
Singapore in response to foreign investors pulling capital out of 
emerging markets.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup's chief executive officer, said in an interview
 with Bloomberg last Friday that the group would temporarily delay an
international bond sale.
In April this year, Vingroup said it planned to sell 150 million shares and
 have them traded on the Singapore bourse (SGX) from the second to
 fourth quarter of 2013. The shares would be listed and traded in US dollars.

Thuy said the whole market was quite difficult, and doing a Viet Nam deal
 was not easy. She didn't rule out a listing later this year and said Vingroup
 still had a few more months to go and would be keeping an eye on market
 developments.

Vingroup shares on Monday (Sept 9) dropped 1.5 per cent to VND62,000
(US$2.95). In 2012, Vingroup reported a net revenue of more than
VND7,904 billion ($377 million), an increase of 242 per cent compared to
2011. Post tax profit was VND1,847 billion ($87.9 million), representing a
rise of 72 per cent from 2011.

The group successfully implemented its 2013 business plan by achieving
 a net revenue of approximately VND12.2 trillion ($580 million) from
operations including revenues made from Royal City, Times City and Vincom
 Village (excluding financial activities).
Estimated profit before tax is approximately VND10 trillion ($476 million) from operations including financial activities.

Source: Vietnam net

Monday, September 9, 2013

Xyec Picks Singapore Over Japan for Historic IPO: Southeast Asia

Xyec Picks Singapore Over Japan for Historic IPO: Southeast Asia


Xyec Picks Singapore Over Japan for Historic IPO: Southeast Asia

Xyec Holdings Co. (XYEC), the first Japanese company to debut only in Singapore, plans to expand its information technology business in Southeast Asia through acquisitions and by hiring local talent.

The company plans to raise a couple of million dollars in an initial public offering and start trading on Singapore’s Catalist board for smaller enterprises on Sept. 18, Chief Executive Officer Manabu Kobayashi said. Tokyo-based Xyec is in talks with two Singaporean companies in the information technology industry about possible deals, he said, declining to elaborate because the talks are private.

Xyec, which provides engineering and information technology services such as software development to manufacturers including a unit of Toyota Motor Corp., chose Singapore over Japan because of Southeast Asia’s growth potential compared with declining demand and shrinking population at home. It targets total sales growth of more than 50 percent to 10 billion yen ($100 million) in the next two years, with 10 percent of that total to come from the region, Kobayashi said.

“We want to make Singapore the base of our Asean expansion,” Kobayashi, 48, said in a telephone interview from Tokyo last week, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “We want to increase our regional presence and capture good talent that we may not be able to get if we remained in Japan, given the size of our company.”

Xyec will be the first Japanese company to have the primary exchange for trading of its shares in Singapore, according to Kobayashi.

Regional Hub

“Listing abroad would lead to increased presence in the region as well as credibility, making it easier for the company to find staff,” Tamami Ota, a Tokyo-based economist at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd., said. “It would make it easier to raise funds in the local currency as well.”

Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX), Southeast Asia’s biggest bourse, has attracted foreign companies as it aspires to become the region’s financial gateway. There were 302 non-Singaporean companies traded on SGX out of 782 companies as of August and nine of them were Japanese, according to SGX. All the other Japanese companies are also listed in Japan.

Xyec, pronounced “Zeek,” chose Singapore over Japan because of the attraction of raising funds from global investors and globally consistent regulation of additional share sales, which it might undertake for expansion, Kobayashi said. The company plans to open an office in Singapore by the end of March 2014, which will become the headquarters for business in the region outside Japan, he said.

Asean Growth

Companies around the world have announced deals of about $72 billion of assets in Southeast Asia this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, amid expectations for growth that outpaces the rest of the world.

Asean consists of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The International Monetary Fund forecast July 9 that Asean’s developing nations would expand 5.6 percent in 2013, compared with 0.6 percent contraction in the euro area.

Not all agree that listing overseas before your home market is a wise tactic. Companies raised about $4.5 billion from IPOs in Singapore this year, compared with about $8.1 billion gathered in Japan IPOs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Listing requirements are famously strict in Japan, but if you’re listed and want to expand overseas, there’s no reason to drop your Tokyo listing,” Nicholas Smith, the Japan strategist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo, said. “You don’t want to lose your Japanese sticky capital: just do a follow-on offering for overseas investors.”

Catalist Exchange

Xyec will be the first Japanese company to list on SGX’s Catalist board, according to the bourse. Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604), the nation’s biggest brokerage, Murata Manufacturing Co., a supplier to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., and department store operator Isetan (Singapore) Ltd. are among other Japanese companies traded on SGX’s mainboard.
To woo foreign companies to list in Singapore, the Southeast Asian bourse introduced new rules in the past two years to allow the listing of resource companies without an earnings track record on both the Catalist and mainboard, as well as dual-currency trading for stocks and exchange-traded funds.

SGX posted a 43 percent jump in profit for the three-months ended June, its best quarterly performance since the same quarter of 2007, as stock volumes rebounded and derivatives contracts climbed to a record.

Xyec is targeting Japanese companies that have expanded in the region, including Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand and seeking to recruit staff in the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar, Kobayashi said. While the company has focused on providing services to the manufacturing industry, it’s now seeking to expand into finance as well, he said.
“For survival today, we need to make sure to capture good talent especially for a small-to-medium-sized company like us,” Kobayashi said. “We had to branch out overseas quickly. Singapore is becoming a hub for Asia, and we thought listing in that country would earn us recognition.”


Source: Bloomberg 


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Charoen’s F&N to Spin Off Property Unit in Singapore Listing


Charoen’s F&N to Spin Off Property Unit in Singapore Listing

Fraser & Neave Ltd. (FNN), controlled by Thailand’s richest man, said it plans to spin off its property business from operations including beverages and publishing through a Singapore listing at the end of the year.
The 130-year-old conglomerate will offer to its shareholders two shares of the property company Frasers Centrepoint Ltd. for every F&N stock held, according to a company statement handed out at a Singapore briefing today.
F&N is spinning off a division with S$9 billion ($7 billion) of assets as of June, allowing both companies to focus on their separate expansion strategies. The move follows the S$13.8 billion takeover by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose company will vote in favor of the transaction, according to the statement.
“It’s a good move because historically, there has been a holding company discount on the group because of the combined businesses of property and non-property,” Goh Han Peng, an analyst at DMG & Partners Securities Pte in Singapore, said. “By separating them, the individual businesses can be valued separately and the food and beverage can obtain the full valuation that they deserve.”
F&N shares have fallen 43 percent this year after a one-time distribution to shareholders following the sale of its brewery stake. It last traded at S$5.49 before the trading halt for the announcement.

Independent Strategies

The listing of the property arm is expected in November or December, according to the statement, and the two companies will be traded separately on the Singapore exchange.
“The listing will enhance Frasers Centrepoint’s profile and enable us to pursue our growth strategies independently,” Lim Ee Seng, chief executive officer of Frasers Centrepoint, said in the statement. He said at a press briefing today he expects to work in partnerships with Charoen’s TCC group and is in talks with them and looking at some of their hotels outside of Thailand.
The proposal also allows F&N to focus on its food and beverage business, while enhancing the public image of Frasers Centrepoint, F&N Chief Financial Officer Hui Choon Kit said at a press conference today. He said it’s an appropriate time for the property unit to be separated because of its size.

Hospitality Trust

F&N will be on the look out for acquisitions for food and beverage companies, Hui said.
The property company is also considering plans for a hospitality trust, according to the statement. F&N said earlier this month it’s considering setting up a real estate investment trust made up of its hospitality assets. It has received proposals from investment banks in relation to the IPO, though considerations are at a preliminary stage, F&N said.
Frasers Centrepoint has a S$2.4 billion pipeline of commercial and retail properties as well as S$1.65 billion worth of hospitality assets that could be injected into its property trusts, Lim said, adding that Charoen is keen to build scalable businesses for the group.
Charoen, who acquired F&N through his company Thai Beverage Pcl (THBEV), has a net worth of $7.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
DBS Group Holdings Ltd., United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) and Morgan Stanley are financial advisers for the transaction.

F&N the latest group to spin off property assets

F&N the latest group to spin off property assets

The Singapore-based group, bought this year by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi after a protracted takeover battle, said it planned to list Frasers Centrepoint in the city-state by the end of the year.

Fraser and Neave (F&N), the Singapore-based property-to-drinks conglomerate, has become the latest company to attempt a spin-off of a property arm.
The group, bought this year by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi after a protracted takeover battle, said it planned to list Frasers Centrepoint (FC) in the city-state by the end of the year.

F&N shareholders will receive two FC shares for every F&N share owned, leaving the property division as a separately listed entity.
The move, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, is part of efforts by TCC, the Thai conglomerate controlled by Charoen, to focus on F&N’s food and beverage business. TCC owns 61.59 per cent of F&N.

F&N also said it is considering a Reit of its hospitality assets.
“The listing will enable us to pursue our growth strategies independently. In addition to Singapore, China and Australia are core markets for [FC] and we will continue to focus on the residential and commercial property development sectors there,” said Lim Ee Seng, chief executive of FC.

The move follows a recent trend of companies listing their property interests to unlock value in the assets.
Fantasia, a Chinese property developer, said it would spin off certain assets in a separate listing, while Great Eagle Holdings listed three Hong Kong hotels through a business trust-type vehicle at the end of May.

Also, Hong Kong property developer and infrastructure company Hopewell Holdings tried to spin off its Hong Kong property business via an IPO in early June. Hopewell was, however, forced to call the deal off due to a lack of demand.

Source: FinanceAsia

 

Thai Tycoon May Hold Property IPO in Singapore

Fraser & Neave Seeks to Monetize Assets


SINGAPORE—Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is considering a Singapore listing of some of the real-estate assets owned by Fraser & Neave Ltd.,
the conglomerate he bought earlier this year in one of Asia's biggest debt-fueled takeovers.
Fraser & Neave, of which Mr. Charoen owns more than 90%, said in a statement that it is considering an initial public offering of its hospitality assets to monetize their value. It didn't mention the size or timing of the IPO but people with knowledge of the deal said it could raise around US$1 billion and would likely be held early next year.
Separately, Fraser & Neave said it will spin off its property arm, Frasers Centrepoint Ltd., and list it on Singapore Exchange  by the end of this year following a dividend in specie, meaning without conducting any capital-raising.
If he proceeds with the IPO of the hospitality assets, Mr. Charoen will try to capitalize on strong demand for shares in Singapore real-estate trust offerings this year but could also face a more challenging market environment.
Singapore has become a hub for trust listings in Asia, due largely to government rules that require trusts to pay out 90% of revenue in dividends. Singapore-listed REITs have yields of 6%-7%.
Among the big deals, Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust  raised US$1.3 billion in an IPO of China real-estate assets in March.
Just last month, Singapore-listed property developer Overseas Union Enterprises raised US$476 million in an IPO of hotel and shopping mall assets, and Singapore Press Holdings Pte., the city-state's largest publishing company, raised US$438 million in an offering of its shopping malls. Demand for both offerings easily exceeded the supply of shares.
But global sentiment toward emerging markets has soured in recent months, and many stock markets in Southeast Asia have been hit hard as investors pull their money in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve beginning to wind down its monetary stimulus.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index on Tuesday fell to its lowest level since November.
Two people with knowledge of Mr. Charoen's plans said Fraser & Neave is still choosing which assets it would place in the REIT.
DBS Bank, which was one of the main lenders for Mr. Charoen's acquisition of Fraser & Neave, has been appointed to advise on the REIT IPO, according to people with knowledge of the deal. More banks are likely to be added at a later stage, one of the people said.
Separately, Fraser & Neave confirmed Tuesday that it will spin off its property business, Frasers Centerpoint, following a strategic review of its operations.
The company said it would conduct a dividend in specie, offering current Fraser & Neave shareholders two shares of Frasers Centrepoint for every share of Fraser & Neave they own. It would list Frasers Centrepoint on the Singapore Exchange by end of this year by way of "introduction," which would mean that there will be no fundraising.
Frasers Centrepoint's assets include shopping malls, serviced apartments, residential developments and office blocks in places including China, Australia and Thailand.
DBS Bank, Morgan Stanley  and United Overseas Bank advised Mr. Charoen on separating the property business, people with knowledge of this deal said.
Mr. Charoen started buying up shares in Fraser & Neave, which is more than 130 years old, in July last year, at which time the company also had a brewing business and was selling Tiger beer.
Mr. Charoen's interest in the company prompted Fraser & Neave's Dutch joint-venture partner, Heineken NV,  to bid for the brewing business, which it acquired late last year for US$4.6 billion.
The Thai tycoon then acquired the rest of Fraser & Neave after a months-long takeover battle against Overseas Union Enterprise.
Mr. Charoen's acquisition of Fraser & Neave valued the Singapore company at US$11.2 billion. It was largely paid for with debt.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tencent denies report of Singapore IPO for WeChat spin-off

Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's leading Internet firm by revenue, on Tuesday denied a newspaper report that it plans to list its popular Weixin, or WeChat, mobile messaging app as a spin-off company in Singapore.



Citing an unnamed source, the China Daily earlier reported that Hong Kong-listed Tencent opened an office in Singapore to deal with a listing, which it originally planned to hold in Hong Kong. The report gave no timeframe or other listing details.
"This market news is not true," said Jerry Huang, a spokesman for Tencent.


Tencent, led by CEO and Chairman Pony Ma and more than 30 percent owned by South African media group Naspers Ltd, is due to announce second-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

The company has invested heavily in WeChat as it and other Chinese Internet companies such as Alibaba Group and Baidu Inc try to broaden their revenue streams.
With more than 300 million users in China, WeChat - which is similar to WhatsApp and South Korean firm Kakao Inc's KakaoTalk - has strong potential earnings power for Tencent, which is looking to monetize the app. It last week released an updated app introducing games, paid-for emoticons and a mobile payment system.

Shares in Tencent, valued at $88 billion, rose as much as 1.5 percent in early trade, but by the midsession were trading down 0.05 percent at HK$367.20. The broader Hang Seng index was up 0.7 percent.

Source: Reuter


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Soilbuild Reit to price IPO on Singapore Exchange at low end


Soilbuild Reit to price IPO on Singapore Exchange at low end

REUTERS - Singapore's Soilbuild Business Space Reit is set to price its $457 million stock market listing at the lower end of its indicative price range, Thomson Reuters publication IFR reported.
Sponsored by property developer Soilbuild Group Holdings, the Reit is expected to price its initial public offering (IPO) at $0.78, from the $0.77-S$0.80 range it had flagged previously, IFR said.
Soilbuild Reit will hold a media briefing on Wednesday to announce the pricing. A spokesman for Soilbuild declined comment on the pricing.
The Reit, which owns seven business and industrial properties in Singapore, has offered 586.5 million units. Based on the indicative price range, the company was offering a yield of 7.3-7.6 per cent for 2013 and 7.5-7.8 per cent for 2014.

Source: Straits Times

Monday, August 5, 2013

Soilbuild kicks off $371 million IPO; Deltamas delays pricing

The Singapore-based business space Reit goes ahead without cornerstones but is covered at the top after the first three days. Meanwhile, Indonesian industrial estate owner Deltamas is trying to restructure its IPO after demand falls short.

 At first glance, the launch of yet another real estate investment trust (Reit) IPO in Singapore this past week is encouraging as it suggests that improving equity markets are giving issuers the confidence to push ahead with their listing plans.

But, the offering of up to S$469.2 million ($371 million) by Soilbuild Business Space Reit also highlights that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the short- to medium-term outlook for regional markets.

For one, Soilbuild has not been able to secure any cornerstone investors ahead of the launch. According to a source, investors aren’t staying away altogether, but they are reluctant for their involvement to be disclosed in the prospectus at a time when markets are still very volatile and turnover is at a low due to the summer holidays.

Many of the potential cornerstones did agree to participate in the deal as anchor investors instead, the source said. In fact, the 85.1% placement tranche was basically covered before launch and the response on the first day of bookbuilding (last Wednesday) was enough to push the order amount above the total deal size, he said. By late Friday, the interest had picked up a notch, with sources saying the deal is now covered at the top of the price range as well.

One reason why investors prefer to come in as anchors could be that they want to retain the flexibility to sell part of their positions without alarming the market should the stock trade down in the aftermarket. Since Singapore imposes no lock-ups on cornerstone investors, they too are free to sell their IPO shares at any time. However, cornerstones are disclosed in the listing prospectus while anchors are not, and there is always a risk that other investors could view it as negative if a known cornerstone chooses to sell early.

But perhaps more importantly, cornerstones also have to commit to buy the shares, or in the case of Soilbuild, the units, at any price within the price range. Anchor investors can usually set limits, which means they are a bit more flexible if sector valuations were to deteriorate during the marketing. Unlike cornerstones, anchors are, however, not guaranteed a specific allocation, which could become an issue if demand is high.

The second issue pointing to the lingering uncertainty is the fact that bankers once again seem to feel there is a need to line up buyers for almost the entire deal before they open the order books. Last year, the portion of IPOs that was “pre-placed” with cornerstones and anchors kept getting bigger and bigger as the market became more challenging and the practice has continued this year — especially for smaller deals that are not a must-own.

The challenges of bringing new and untested names to the market were highlighted on Friday when industrial estate developer Puradelta Lestari was forced to postpone the pricing of its IPO in Indonesia after a sharp decline in the valuation of its closest comparables. Together with further weakness in the rupiah this led to muted demand and a push back on the indicated pricing.

Puradelta, also known as Deltamas after the name of its industrial estate, hasn’t pulled the deal, but according to sources, it will try to see if it can find enough demand if it reduces the deal size and the price. If so, the IPO may be re-launched with new terms next week. Indonesia is on holiday this entire week to celebrate the end of Ramadan. The company was trying to raise between Rp1.569 trillion and Rp1.952 trillion ($154 million to $191 million) and was already offering its shares at a 60% discount to net asset value (NAV).
The difficulties facing Deltamas aren’t deterring other listing candidates from approaching the market, however. Not even in Indonesia. In addition to the launch of Soilbuild’s Reit IPO in Singapore, bankers also started investor education of Indonesian healthcare provider Siloam Hospital last Monday.
Depending on the investor feedback, the IPO may launch in mid-August. Siloam, which is 100% owned by Indonesia’s Lippo group, is seeking to raise about $200 million to $250 million. Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and domestic investment bank Ciptadana are joint bookrunners.

Soilbuild Business Space Reit
Soilbuild has seven assets in its initial portfolio — two business parks and five industrial properties. Business parks are made up of properties that are mainly used for offices, while industrial properties include factories, ramp-up facilities and other properties used primarily for manufacturing, engineering, logistics, warehousing and research and development.
The Soilbuild brand is well-known in Singapore and the sponsor, Soilbuild Group Holdings, is active throughout the property industry, from construction and development to leasing and fund management.

The Reit is looking to raise between S$451.6 million and S$469.2 million ($357 million to $371 million) from the sale of about 586.532 million new units (73% of the trust) to public investors. The remaining 27% will be bought by Lim Chap Huat, who is a co-founder of the sponsor and a director of the Reit management company.

The majority of the public shares, or 85.1%, will be offered to institutional investors, while 14.9% of the deal will be set aside for retail investors, the management, employees and business associates of the sponsor.

The units are offered at price between S$0.77 and S$0.80, which translates into an estimated dividend yield of 7.5% to 7.8% for the 2014 calendar year. The yield is pretty clean, except for the fact that the Reit management company will receive its fees in units for 2013 and 2014. One source noted that this has helped lift the yield from the mid-6% range, in response to the investor feedback.

The demand for a higher yield reflects the fact that the yield on the Singapore 10-year government bond has widened by about 80bp since the start of pre-marketing.
The current range puts Soilbuild at a slight premium (in yield terms) to Mapletree Industrial Trust and AIMS AMP Capital Industrial Reit, which sources say are the closest comps. However, analysts argue that because of its greater exposure to business parks (about 40% of its total portfolio value), Soilbuild should actually trade at a tighter yield than the other two.
One reason is that business parks have a larger and more diversified pool of tenants. Mapletree Industrial Trust, which has about 20% of its portfolio in business parks, is currently trading at a 7.1% yield for the fiscal year to March 2015, while AIMS AMP Reit is offering a yield of 7.4% for the same business year.

Singapore-listed Reits that focus almost exclusively on industrial properties, such as Cache Logistics, Cambridge Industrial Trust and the Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Reit, are trading at forward yields of around 7.5% to 8%, Bloomberg data show.
Soilbuild also comes with an overallotment option of 87.5 million secondary units that will be provided by Lim if the demand in the aftermarket is strong enough. The option accounts for 9.6% of the base deal and could increase the total proceeds to as much as S$539.2 million ($424 million). If exercised in full, the free-float will increase to 80%, while the portion held by Lim will drop to 20% from 27%.

The institutional bookbuilding will end tomorrow with the price expected to be fixed shortly afterwards. The retail offering will follow on August 7 to 14 and the trading debut is scheduled for August 16.
Interestingly, the bookrunners — Citi, DBS and DBS — have chosen not to actively market the deal outside of Asia and the management will only visit Singapore and Hong Kong.

Puradelta Lestari (Deltamas)
The industrial estate developer was looking to sell 15% of its share capital, but can reduce that to 10% and still meet the minimum free-float required by the Indonesian regulators. However, after its closest comp, Bekasi Fajar Industrial Estate, fell 16.4% during the six-day bookbuilding, sources said the offering price will need to be revised down as well.
Some international investors have apparently shown interest at a lower price, but the question is how low the seller is willing to go. It had already reduced the size from an initial aim to raise about $300 million to the $154 million that it sought from investors at the bottom of the price range.

The company needs money to fund the basic infrastructure, such as roads, electricity and water, as well as residential housing, parks and other common facilities on the Kota Deltamas estate before selling land to various industries for development into factories.
If it isn’t able to complete the IPO at this time, it will likely have to seek alternative types of funding. That is probably also why it was so keen to go ahead with the IPO even though the response during the investor education was pretty mixed.

International investors were said to have been positive with regard to the underlying assets, but were asking for a sizeable discount versus other similar industrial estate developers, including Bekasi Fajar. They were also concerned about the sharp drop in the rupiah, which is making investments into Indonesia more costly, while also eating into any potential returns.

Citi, Macquarie and Nomura are joint international bookrunners for the Deltamas IPO, while Macquarie and Sinarmas Sekuritas are joint domestic underwriters.

Source: FinanceAsia 

‘Snowpiercer’ Backer Spackman Seeks Singapore IPO

HK film investor to bolster capital for stakes, acquisitions

HONG KONG — Canadian-backed Korean film investor Spackman Entertainment Group is to seek a stock-market listing in Singapore.

The company has appointed Singapore investment firm PrimePartners Corporate Finance as advisor in the run up to the flotation on Singapore’s Catalist sponsor-supervised board.
Spackman Entertainment is a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Toronto-listed Spackman Equities Group. It owns two South Korean film production firms, Zip Cinema and Opus Pictures.

Zip is producer of “Cold Eyes” a hit thriller that is currently on release and has scored over 4.5 million ticket sales at the Korean box office. Opus is a minority investor in “Snowpiercer” the English-language debut film of Bong Joon-ho which opened this week and sold over 1 million tickets before the weekend.

Spackman has not disclosed how much it intends to raise, but says that the proceeds of the sale are to be invested in expanding the two Korean companies’ production and investment slates as well as allowing it to pursue further acquisitions.

Source: Variety.com 


Thursday, August 1, 2013

REIT Listings Heat Up Singapore IPO Market

REIT Listings Heat Up Singapore IPO Market 

Companies are again rushing to list real estate and other assets on Singapore’s stock exchange, with billions of dollars in recent and planned deals putting the city-state on track for its best-ever year for initial public offerings.

They are listing in the form of trusts, which investors find attractive because they pay high returns and assured dividends. The new push follows a market selloff in May and June that hammered trusts’ share prices and led two companies to delay offerings.
In the past two weeks, two real-estate investment trusts raised a total of US$900 million in Singapore IPOs. Another US$4 billion of trust deals are in the pipeline as companies ranging from department-store operators to wind-power providers look to capitalize on the market’s recovery.

Last week, Singapore-listed property developer Overseas Union Enterprises, controlled by Indonesia’s Riady family, listed hotel and shopping-mall assets in a REIT after raising US$476 million in an IPO. And Singapore Press Holdings Pte. Ltd.  the city-state’s largest publishing company, listed a REIT of its shopping malls after raising US$438 million. Demand for both offerings, from institutional and retail investors, easily exceeded the supply of shares.

Other companies are following suit. Among them, Lotte Department Store, South Korea’s largest department-store operator by revenue, plans to list some of its shopping-mall assets in Singapore in a deal that could raise US$1 billion, people with knowledge of the deal said last week.

Lotte on Wednesday confirmed its IPO plan but said it hadn’t decided on the timing.
MBK Partners, an Asia-focused private-equity firm that controls Taiwan’s largest cable-television operator, China Network Systems, will also seek to raise around US$1 billion by listing the operator as a business trust, people with knowledge of the deal said last week.
MBK declined to comment Wednesday.

Singapore-listed property developer Soilbuild Construction Group Ltd., meanwhile, has started taking orders from institutional investors for a US$505 million IPO of industrial properties, people with knowledge of the deal said. The company filed an IPO prospectus with Singapore’s central bank on Tuesday.

The success of last week’s listings—shares in both traded above their IPO price on Wednesday—indicates that many investors still see REITs as attractive despite concerns about U.S. monetary stimulus potentially being scaled back and about higher interest rates, which were largely behind the selloff in May and June.

REITs were the biggest losers on the Singapore market during that period, falling 15% from May 20 through July 4 and underperforming the benchmark Straits Times Index, Citibank said in a report.
But despite higher yields on Singapore government bonds, the gap between them and yields on Singapore-listed REITs remains “quite comfortable and attractive,” said Eric Khaw, Singapore-based associate fund manager for Henderson Global Investors, which has more than US$100 billion under management.

“We are not that concerned about short-term interest rates moving up in the short to medium term,” Khaw said.
Henderson was a cornerstone investor in Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust, which raised US$1.3 billion in an IPO of China real-estate assets in March. Cornerstone investors generally commit to holding a significant stake for a set period.

Singapore has become an Asian hub for trust listings, due largely to government rules that require trusts to pay out 90% of revenue in dividends. Singapore-listed REITs have yields of 6%-7%.
The city-state ranks first in Asia this year in trust IPOs with a total volume of US$3.4 billion, nearly half the region’s total, according to data provider Dealogic.
That dominance in trust listings, which has accounted for 90% of the city-state’s total IPO volume this year, has pushed Singapore to first in overall IPO volume in Southeast Asia for the year—and third in Asia behind only Tokyo and Hong Kong, according to Dealogic.
If all the deals in the pipeline get done, Singapore is likely to surpass its previous record for IPO volume of US$7.2 billion in 2011.

“There is ample liquidity in the region and property is a good way to play on the growth in Asian economies,” said Angelo Scasserra, head of real-estate banking for Southeast Asia at Credit Suisse, an adviser on both the Overseas Union and Singapore Press Holdings offerings.
Scasserra said both offerings saw significant demand from private-banking clients.
“Unlike an institutional investor, a private-banking client doesn’t have to manage redemptions from fund investors and they don’t have to outperform indices, so they can be long-term holders of real-estate securities,” he said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal


Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Lotte Shopping Said to Plan $1 Billion Singapore IPO of Malls

Lotte Shopping Said to Plan $1 Billion Singapore IPO of Malls

Lotte Shopping Co. (023530), South Korea’s largest department store operator, is planning an initial public offering in Singapore of some of its shopping malls, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
The sale may raise at least $1 billion and could take place as early as this year, said the people, asking not to be identified as the process is private. The company is still deciding which properties it will include in the sale, which will either be in the form of a business trust or a real-estate investment trust, the people said.

At $1 billion, the IPO would be the third-largest in Singapore this year after sales by Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (MAGIC) and Asian Pay Television Trust (APTT), data compiled by Bloomberg show. REITs and business trusts were the biggest fundraisers in Singapore’s IPO market in the past year, raising $4.6 billion out of a total $5.3 billion, the data show.

DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Nomura Holdings Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc are managing the sale, the people said.
A call to Lotte Shopping today was unanswered. The company said on June 24 that it’s considering the sale and lease back of real estate assets, without offering any details on timing or value. IFR reported the Singapore IPO plan last month.

Source: Bloomberg

 

Berjaya Sports Toto Trust to list in Singapore by Q4

BToto Trust to list in Singapore by Q4

 Malaysian general election was part of reason for delay

PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) will list its business trust early in the fourth quarter of this year, a top official said.
Freddie Pang Hock Cheng, who is executive director of Berjaya Group and BToto, said all approvals had been obtained for the listing of Sports Toto Malaysia Trust (STM-Trust).
“Singapore would be the primary listing. We intend to seek a secondary listing on Bursa Malaysia,” he told StarBiz in response to email queries.

BToto, which is in the numbers forecasting business, had said last December that it had received a conditional eligibility-to-list or ELT letter from the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST) for the listing of the STM-Trust on the main board.
Pang had then said the listing would likely take place by the end of January 2013, adding that the proposed exercise was still pending approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at that time.

Yesterday, Pang said the MAS approval was received in early April and that SGX-ST had since given BToto extensions.
“We are updating our prospectus before we can launch the trust. We are doing that now and expect the listing to be completed early in the fourth quarter of the current calendar year.”
Under the exercise, BToto shareholders will likely get a special dividend of more than 40 sen per share, according to reports.

The numbers forecasting operator had last year revealed its plan to spin off its wholly owned, cash-generating subsidiary Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd into a business trust that would be listed in Singapore.
In a circular distributed to its shareholders last November, BToto said the listing was expected to raise S$270mil (RM685mil), out of which S$234.95mil (RM597mil), or an estimated RM45 for every 100 BToto shares held, would be allocated as a special dividend to shareholders.

Besides the allocation for special dividend payment, the company also said that part of the proceeds from the listing would be used to retire Sports Toto Malaysia’s existing loans.
As at last December, Sports Toto Malaysia reportedly had a medium-term notes programme valued at RM550mil, which needs to be paid off by 2017.
Essentially, business trusts are business enterprises set up as a trust structure and managed by a trustee-manager, which holds the assets on trust for unit-holders.

Notably, BToto’s decision to list in Singapore was made before business trust rules in Malaysia were finalised.
Since then, however, the Securities Commission has released guidelines for business trusts here.
Bursa Malaysia had in March also issued its amended rules to enable the listing of business trusts on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

Separately, sources had earlier said there had been some concerns by investors in Singapore about the outcome of the general election here and how it could affect BToto’s business.
“But with all that settled now, BToto has resumed its roadshow with investors there and dealings with the authorities in Singapore to get it listed,” said one banking

Source: The Star

Soilbuild to raise up to S$643m in industrial REIT IPO

Developer Soilbuild Group Holdings is looking to raise as much as S$643 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of its industrial and business properties.

 SINGAPORE: Developer Soilbuild Group Holdings is looking to raise as much as S$643 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of its industrial and business properties.

Soilbuild Business Space REIT (Soilbuild REIT) will be offering 586.5 million units at an indicative price range of 77 cents to 80 cents per unit, according to a preliminary prospectus filed with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
499 million units will go to investors and institutions in the placement tranche, while 87.5 million units will be offered to the public.
Soilbuild's co-founder Lim Chap Huat has also offered to buy an additional 216.9 million units.
According to the prospectus, the trust expects to offer dividend yields of between 7.5 and 7.8 per cent based on its 2014 projections.
The REIT's initial portfolio will comprise seven business space properties, including two business park developments and five industrial properties.
Soilbuild Group's construction arm Soilbuild Construction Group is listed on the SGX Mainboard.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

POSH Semco seeks S$300-S$500 mln IPO in Singapore - sources


(Reuters) - Offshore marine services provider POSH Semco, controlled by Malaysia's richest man Robert Kuok, is seeking to list shares in Singapore in a deal worth S$300 million to S$500 million ($237 million to $395 million), sources said on Monday.
The deal is expected to be launched in September or October, two people with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters. POSH Semco's market capitalisation is expected to reach nearly $1 billion after its shares are listed, one of the sources said.
POSH Semco, a member of the Kuok Group, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The sources declined to be identified because the information has not been made public.

POSH Semco owns and operates a fleet of more than 100 vessels, providing support for offshore oil and gas activities.
The deal will follow the recent initial public offerings of exploration firms KrisEnergy Holdings Ltd and Rex International Holding Ltd in the Singapore market.
Singapore is home to the world's two biggest rig builders, Keppel Corp Ltd and Sembcorp Marine Ltd, as well as smaller oil services companies like Ezion Holdings Ltd .

The deal comes amid a pick-up in listings on Singapore's stock exchange, including those of OUE Hospitality Trust and SPH REIT.
One source said the figures were preliminary as the deal has yet to be launched and that POSH Semco has not determined how existing and new shares will be sold in the IPO.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd are the bookrunners, the sources said.
All three of the banks declined to comment.
Pacific Carriers Ltd, another company backed by Kuok, sealed a joint venture deal with Dubai's indebted Drydocks World last year. ($1 = 1.2649 Singapore dollars)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Croesus Retail Trust Prices Up to US$300M Singapore IPO at S$0.93/Unit

Croesus Retail Trust Prices Up to US$300M Singapore IPO at S$0.93/Unit - Sources

(DJ) SINGAPORE--Croesus Retail Trust, a real-estate investment vehicle backed by Marubeni Corp. (8002.TO) and Daiwa House Industry Co. (1925.TO), has priced its planned initial public offering at 93 Singapore cents (75 U.S. cents) per unit, people with knowledge of the deal said Wednesday, setting up a flotation worth about US$300 million in Singapore.

The deal would be Singapore's second-biggest IPO this year, after Mapletree Investments Pte. Ltd.--a unit of Singaporean state-investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.--completed in March a US$1.3 billion offering for a China-focused real-estate investment trust.

Croesus Retail Trust, which would own Japanese shopping malls in its portfolio, could file its preliminary IPO prospectus to the Singapore central bank later Wednesday, before starting roadshows Thursday, the people said.

The trust had revived its plan for a Singapore listing in recent weeks, after shelving it in November amid weak market conditions and tepid investor demand.

Its fresh push for a listing comes after stock markets improved worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia, leading to companies like Croesus renewing equity-raising plans. Recent successes in share sales by other companies in the region have also been supporting sentiment.

If Croesus' IPO is successful, it would become the first Japanese company focused on retail property to list in Singapore, and the second Japanese company after Saizen REIT (DZ8U.SG), which listed its residential properties in a 2007 share sale that raised about S$197 million.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Motor racing-Ecclestone sees new opportunity for Formula One IPO


(Reuters) - Formula One's postponed flotation could be re-launched later this year, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Wednesday.
"Last year I thought that the markets were not ready, but now it is getting more likely that there is an opportunity," the 82-year-old British billionaire told the official formula1.com website ahead of Sunday's Australian season-opener.
"In the next three months or so somebody will have to decide yes or no," he added when asked about a possible float towards the end of the year.
Ecclestone told Reuters last November that any initial public offering (IPO) was unlikely before 2014.

The owners of Formula One had been preparing a $3 billion IPO in Singapore last June but decided to hold off as global markets  tumbled and investor mood soured after Facebook's plunge in value following its flotation.
Private equity firm CVC, the sport's largest shareholder, has a stake of around 35.5 percent.
Some 30 percent of the business is owned by investment groups Blackrock, Waddell & Reed, Norges Bank and the Texas Teachers' pension fund.

This year's Formula One championship will have 19 races, one less than last year due to the postponement of a planned grand prix in New Jersey and the disappearance of the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.
The German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring was confirmed only at the end of January amid prolonged wrangling over hosting fees while a slot reserved for an unidentified European race in July has gone unfilled.

Ecclestone suggested Europe could see fewer races in future with other countries, such as Thailand and Mexico, seeking slots.
"The fact is that we are a world championship, not a European championship, so maybe we are going to lose a couple of European races because we are going to other parts of the world," he said.
"There are lots of countries knocking at our door and it is a case of finding the right places for Formula One."
Russia is due to make its debut next year with a race in Winter Olympics venue Sochi.

Singapore Press Holdings mulls property-trust IPO

--Singapore Press Holdings says it may list a real-estate investment trust
--SPH didn't give specifics on timing, size of IPO or assets to be listed
--Analysts say possible REIT could include Paragon Shopping Center
(Revises throughout, adds details and background) 

SINGAPORE--Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. , the city-state's largest publishing company, is considering listing its property assets in a real-estate investment trust, offering the latest sign that Singapore's listings scene is coming alive after a tepid 2012.
In a filing to Singapore Exchange on Sunday, the publisher said it hadn't decided which properties would be included in the REIT, and that the timing of any initial public offering would depend on market conditions and regulatory approvals, among other things. It also didn't reveal how big an IPO might be.

The filing comes as at least two other companies prepare for REIT listings in Singapore this year. And it follows the successful US$1.3 billion flotation last week of China-focused REIT Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (RW0U.SG), which was backed by Singaporean state investment company Temasek Holdings Pte.
Analysts said the success of the Mapletree deal could catalyze Singapore's IPO market, which last year saw around US$5 billion worth of IPOs pulled due to volatile markets and weak demand.

Singapore has relied on REITs and business trusts in an effort to keep up with rival Hong Kong, the top global IPO market from 2009 to 2011. Trust listings contributed more than half of the IPO proceeds in Singapore over the past five years.
SPH is considering an REIT listing as it faces declining revenue at its main newspaper and magazine business, which saw falling circulation and advertising income in fiscal 2012. In the year ended Aug. 31, SPH saw operating revenue from newspapers and magazines fall 1% to 1 billion Singapore dollars (US$800 million). The segment contributed nearly 79% of the group's overall operating revenue in the fiscal year.
Operating revenue from its property arm, meanwhile, climbed 14% to S$191.4 million, helped by higher rental income from its malls.

The company publishes 18 newspapers, including its flagship broadsheets The Straits Times and The Business Times, as well as magazines and books. It also runs outdoor advertising and events businesses, and its properties include shopping malls.
SPH has developed residential property but its real-estate business mainly comprises shopping malls. Analysts say an REIT listing would likely include the publisher's main retail asset, the Paragon Shopping Center in Singapore's prime Orchard shopping district. Independent appraisers estimated the mall, which SPH bought in 1997, to be worth S$2.43 billion as of August.

The company's other retail assets are Clementi Mall in western Singapore, acquired in 2010 and valued at S$598 million in August, and the Seletar Mall project, which is due to be completed next year.
At least two other companies are also planning to list REITs in Singapore. Overseas Union Enterprise, a Singapore-based developer of offices and hotels, could initiate an $800 million hospitality REIT IPO in the third quarter, while fellow developer Soilbuild is planning an industrial property REIT that could raise about $400 million, according to people with knowledge of these deals. 

Bankers say these companies could benefit from healthy investor demand for such listings, demonstrated by Mapletree's strong showing since its March 7 debut. As of Monday, its unit price had risen by as much as 15.6% from the IPO price.

Monday, March 4, 2013

IPO Troubles in Trust-Heavy Singapore

05 Mar 2013 06:31 MPST WSJ BLOG: IPO Troubles in Trust-Heavy Singapore
(This story has been posted on The Wall Street Journal Online's Deal Journal blog at http://blogs.wsj.com/deals.)
By Chun Han Wong and P.R. Venkat

Singapore's listings scene is roaring back to life with a $1.3 billion initial public offering by a China-focused real-estate investment trust. But nontrust-related IPOs continue to elude the city-state, even as neighboring bourses are gearing up for a range of billion-dollar deals.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, companies from retailers to infrastructure firms are poised to cash in on rapid economic growth by launching large IPOs and secondary share sales. Singapore, despite its push to rival Hong Kong as an Asian listing hub, has a one-dimensional listings scene: It hasn't hosted any major nontrust IPOs since 2010.

Its largest listing in two years--set for a Thursday debut--is a $1.3 billion China-focused REIT IPO by Mapletree Investments Pte. Ltd., the real-estate arm of Singaporean state investor Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.

"The supply of IPOs is relatively low as the global economy is still weak...Competition [for IPOs] will intensify with other countries given that they are growing faster," said Ken Ang, an investment analyst at Philip Securities.

Thailand, which reported 6.4% economic growth last year, will host BTS Group Holdings PCL's proposed $1.5 billion flotation for its elevated-train system in Bangkok. Over in Malaysia, where the economy expanded 5.6% in 2012, power company Malakoff Corp. Bhd. has plans for a $1 billion IPO. In Singapore, the government expects the economy to grow by 1% to 3% this year after a 1.3% expansion in 2012.

Singapore has relied on REITs and business trusts to try to keep up with Hong Kong, the top global IPO destination from 2009 to 2011. Trust listings contributed more than half of the IPO proceeds in Singapore in the last five years and surged to 93% in 2011, when the city hosted its largest-ever IPO Hutchison Port Holdings Trust's $5.5 billion flotation.

This trend is set to continue this year. Apart from Mapletree Overseas Union Enterprise, a Singapore-based developer of mainly offices and hotels, could initiate an $800 million hospitality REIT IPO in the third quarter, while fellow developer Soilbuild is planning an industrial property REIT that could raise about $400 million, according to people with knowledge of these deals.

Although Singapore has a large, diversified investor pool and tough corporate-governance rules, it has lost out to neighboring governments' measures to deepen their capital markets.

Backed by the government's push to list huge state-owned entities, Malaysia hosted $7.5 billion worth of IPOs in 2012, placing it fifth globally in terms of value after coming in 14th in 2011, according to data tracker Dealogic.

Bankers say some $3 billion worth of IPOs could be launched in Kuala Lumpur this year, including deals by Malakoff and port-owner Westports Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. In Indonesia, private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners plans to sell up to $1.5 billion worth of shares in Matahari Department Store.

Things could have been very different for Singapore, which saw some $5 billion worth of IPOs pulled last year because of volatile markets and weak demand. U.K. soccer club Manchester United ditched plans to list in the city-state, motor-sport group Formula One shelved a $2.5 billion flotation, and India's Reliance Communications scrapped a listing of up to $1 billion of its undersea-cable assets, among others.

Bankers say some of these IPO plans could be revived if Mapletree's latest REIT listing goes well. But even so, Singapore's IPO scene will likely remain trust heavy.

"Singapore was an early adopter of REIT and business trust legislation and the asset class has proved itself to be popular with a wide variety of individual and institutional investors," said Rupert Mitchell Citigroup's Asia-Pacific head of equity syndicate. "The sector's strong yield characteristics have played well in a low-interest-rate environment."

Although REITs have won loyal followers thanks to steady yields, business trusts have been shunned by some investors because most have underperformed the market. Singapore hosts 30 REITs and property trusts with about $44 billion in total market value, a record since the government set up a legal framework for REITs in 1999.