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发表于 26-6-2013 12:07 AM
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SPH delays $540 mil REIT IPO: Sources
http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-daily-edge/business/44430-sph-delays-540-mil-reit-ipo-sources.html
Tue, 25 Jun 10:29
Singapore Press Holdings, the city-state’s largest publishing company, has delayed a planned initial public offering of a real-estate investment trust due to weak global markets, people with knowledge of the deal said Monday.
The offering was expected to raise as much as $540 million.
SPH’s decision comes as other companies in Asia either scrap or scale back planned offerings due to falling markets that have pushed share prices of some new trust listings sharply lower.
Jittery global investors have dumped emerging market stocks and currencies in recent weeks due to indications that the US Federal Reserve may being winding down its monetary stimulus later this year. A liquidity crisis China’s financial system and the country’s slowing economic growth have also darkened investors’ moods.
SPH had planned to start taking orders from institutional investors this week, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said. It still plans to proceed with the offering when the time is right but the delay to order-taking means the REIT isn’t likely to list in early July as originally planned, another person said.
An SPH spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the company is “monitoring market conditions and will make an announcement at the appropriate time.”
SPH last week secured shareholders’ approval for the REIT, which would own two of the company’s Singapore shopping malls, the Paragon and Clementi Mall.
SPH had hoped to benefit from investors’ strong interest in trusts. Dividend-paying investments such as REITs had been in demand in recent years as monetary stimulus from central banks in developed markets kept interest rates low.
But both debt and equity markets have weakened since US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested last month that the Fed could begin cutting back on its $85 billion-a-month of bond purchases, known as quantitative easing, in coming months. He reiterated that stance last week and upgraded his assessment of the US economy.
Investors’ reactions to Bernanke’s statements have pushed a host of other companies into delaying their IPOs or cutting their size.
In Hong Kong, casino owner Macau Legend Development Ltd. said it will cut its US$788 million ($1 billion) Hong Kong IPO, causing it to delay its planned listing. Hopewell Hong Kong Properties, a unit of conglomerate Hopewell Holdings, has withdrawn an IPO that was expected to raise up to US$778 million in the city.
In Indonesia, private-equity firm PT Saratoga Investment Sedaya said last week that it would reduce the size of its IPO to US$151 million from US$220 million, as the Jakarta stock market fell victim to capital outflows.
Trust listings in Asia have also suffered in recent weeks. Asian Pay Television Trust (S7OU.SG)--an investment vehicle for Taiwan’s biggest cable-TV operator--has fallen fell 12.4% since its debut in Singapore last month. Langham Hospitality Investments. (1270.HK)--a trust that holds Great Eagle Holdings’ three Hong Kong hotel assets--lost 9.2% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong.
SPH 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 has developed residential property. Its real-estate business mainly comprises shopping malls, including a third property--the Seletar Mall project--that is due to be completed next year.
The publishing company has said it planned to distribute a special dividend of 18 Singapore cents to its shareholders once the offering was completed, and hold a 70% stake in the REIT.
SPH’s move turns the spotlight onto Singapore-based property developer Overseas Union Enterprise, which has been preparing to launch a US$638 million REIT IPO in the city-state.
Overseas Union, controlled by Indonesia’s Riady family, has been testing market appetite this month for a proposed July listing of its hospitality REIT, which would include Singapore’s five-star Mandarin Orchard hotel and the adjoining Mandarin Gallery shopping mall. |
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