IN KUALA LUMPUR
A US$200 million real estate investment trust (Reit) of regional malls by Malaysia’s Amanah Raya and Indonesia’s Gapura Prima Group is likely to list on the Singapore Exchange in the first quarter of 2008, rather than by year-end.
Amanah Raya director Ahmad Kamal Abdullah Al-Yafii says Macquarie has been hired to look into listing the Reit.
Initial properties to be injected include five in Indonesia and one or two Malaysian malls, with assets in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines to be added later.
The Asean-wide Reit – jointly managed by Amanah Raya, which is a trustee company owned by the Malaysian government, and Gapura Prima – will be based in Singapore.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding on the Reit in mid-June at the Malaysia-Indonesia Investment and Finance Summit. A dual listing on the Indonesian exchange is a possibility down the track.
Amanah Raya already has Malaysian-listed Amanahraya Reit (AR-Reit) which focuses on commercial, education, industrial and hospitality property.
Following the recent injection of five properties valued at almost RM309 million (S$134.24 million), ARReit now has 13 properties worth RM641 million. The aim is to reach RM1 billion by year-end, says Mr Al-Yafii, who is also AR-Reit’s deputy chairman.
Despite a general drop in foreign interest in Malaysian Reits after withholding taxes were not eased in the last Budget – foreigners are taxed at a relatively high 20 per cent – foreign institutions such as ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank and Bank of Scotland have agreed to take up 70 per cent of a proposed private placement of up to 100 million new units in AR-Reit.
At a placement price of 90-95 sen per unit, that is small change for foreign funds. But Mr Al-Yafii says Malaysia’s higher net yields are an attraction and AR-reit’s net yield will rise to 7.4 -7.5 per cent with the new assets, from 6.9 per cent.
Source: Business Times 27 Oct 07
