REIT Oracle

Frasers Logistics Snaps Up Two Properties

Along with a business update for the second quarter of 2020, Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust is also announcing the acquisition of two freehold properties:

• A logistics asset in Australia (at 75-79 Canterbury Road, Braeside, Victoria). The property has a gross lettable area of approximately 14,263 m² and is fully leased to IVE Group Ltd.

• A business park in the United Kingdom (Maxis Business Park in Bracknell, Thames Valley), comprising two office buildings, with a net lettable area of about 17,859 m². The park is fully leased to a number of tenants, mostly in the telecom and tech sector.

Total acquisition costs are about S$89.9 million.

The trust is also announcing the sale of the remaining 50% of its ownership in a property at 99 Sandstone Place, Parkinson (Queensland, Australia) for approximately S$150.5 million.

Accordia Golf Trust Minority Shareholders Unhappy With Asset Buyout Offer

Accordia Golf Trust decision to sell out all its asset is making some shareholders unhappy as the price (an implied consideration of S$0.732 per unit) is seen by some as too low:

HIBIKI Path Advisors has joined hands with more than 50 other minority unitholders to request that Accordia Golf Trust Management (AGTM), the trustee manager of Accordia Golf Trust (AGT), convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Aug 18.

This is Hibiki's latest move to block the sale of the trust's 88 golf courses in Japan to sponsor Accordia Golf.

Ascott REIT Selling Two Properties

Ascott REIT has announced the sale of a Citadines Didot Montparnasse (France) and Ascott Guangzhou (China) to two unrelated parties for a total of about S$191.4 million. Both properties are sold at 69% and 52% (respectively) above book value. The trust will realize significant capital gains but has no indicated any specific use for the funds.

OUE Commercial Gives a Hard Pass on US Bank Tower Sale

OUE Limited, the sponsor of OUE Commercial REIT (OUE-C), has sold the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles for a US$430 million sum. While OUE-C had a right of first refusal on the property (which is also sold below the 31 Dec 2019 valuation by the seller), it has decided not to exercise it, declaring that the transaction would not have been yield accretive.

ESR to Acquire Sabana

ESR is still not done growing and after merging with Viva Industrial Trust, the REIT has reached an agreement to purchase its competitor Sabana.

Each Sabana unitholder will receive 94 new ESR-REIT units for every 100 Sabana Units held, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday (Jul 16). The merged entity will have total assets worth about S$4.1 billion, they said.

Cromwell REIT Gets Into Datacentre Deals

Datacentres are all the rage right now with industrial REITs and Cromwell doesn't want to be left out. The trust is announcing an agreement with both its sponsor Cromwell Property Group and Stratus Data Centres to co-invest into two data centre projects, located in London and Frankfurt.

Stratus will be responsible for project development, leasing, design and construction.

Cromwell Property will be a cornerstone investor in the new fund, which is targeting an eventual gross asset value of over US$1 billion, with 25 per cent of the portfolio already identified by the first two strategic sites under exclusivity.

Suntec Injects S$40 Million in Suntec Exhibition Centre

Suntec REIT has subscribed to a S$40 million equity raise of Harmony Investors Group (HIG), which indirectly controls the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The purpose of the capital injection is to support Suntec Singapore in the face of challenges to the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (“MICE”) industry in Singapore due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the other shareholder has not participated in the operation, the trust effective interest in HIG now amounts to about 66.3%, up from 60.8%.

Ascendas REIT Snaps Up Australian Property

Ascendas REIT has agreed to purchase a freehold piece of land to develop a logistics property in the Yennora suburb of Sydney, Australia. The A$23.5 million acquisition (which includes land and development) has a 26,632 m² area where the building is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021.

The net property income yield for the first year is estimated to be 5.8 per cent after taking into account the transaction costs. This yield factors in a rental guarantee of 9.5 months from Larapinta Project.

Frasers Centerpoint Increases Stake in PGIM Retail Fund

Frasers Centrepoint Trust is increasing its stake in the PGIM Real Estate Asia Retail Fund (ARF), buying a 12.07% participation for S$197.2 million. The trust now owns 24.82% of the fund.

ARF is an open-end private-investment vehicle set up as a company, and the largest non-listed retail mall fund in Singapore. It owns five retail malls near MRT stations (Tiong Bahru Plaza, White Sands, Hougang Mall, Century Square and Tampines 1) and an office property (Central Plaza) in Singapore, and one retail mall in Malaysia.

The acquisition is to be funded by debt.

Accordia Golf Trust to Sell All Its Golf Courses

Following a non-binding proposal received at the end of last year, Accordia Golf Trust has agreed to divest of all its 88 golf courses (along with memberships and debts) to Accordia Golf Co. Ltd.

The offer of ¥61,800 million correspond to about S$0.732 per unit, about 5.1% above adjusted net asset value.

Should the operation be approved during the extraordinary general meeting, this will effectively allow the delisting of the trust.