Source : The Straits Times, Aug 18, 2007
TOKYO-BASED Asia Pacific Land Group is looking to raise at least $500 million through listing a real estate investment trust (Reit) in Singapore, banking sources said yesterday.
Asia Pacific Land is said to have hired JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers for the initial public offering, which would be the first Singapore-listed property trust by a Japanese company.
Sources said the privately held firm, which has US$1.5 billion (S$2.3 billion) in assets under management, wants to divest itself of some of its Japanese retail and office properties by putting them into the trust.
'It's not just about listing a portfolio of properties, but also about creating a regional fund management platform in Singapore,' said a source familiar with the deal.
Bankers say Singapore's Reit market - the third-largest in the Asia-Pacific after Australia and Japan - could be attractive to Japanese companies seeking to divest themselves of foreign assets through property trusts.
Reits have taken off in Singapore since the first one was listed in 2002. Singapore has 16 listed property trusts with a total market capitalisation of more than US$15 billion.
Japanese real estate fund manager Re-plus is said to be in talks with Citigroup to list a Singapore property trust based on its office building assets in China.
Unlike Singapore Reits, which have foreign assets ranging from malls in China to hospitals in Indonesia, Japanese-listed Reits are not allowed to hold offshore assets. -REUTERS
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