The trust seeks to raise $500 million with its offer of 423m units for subscription
ASCENDAS India Trust (a-iTrust) has launched a Singapore public offer in connection with its proposed initial public offering (IPO). The price for the units has been fixed at $1.18.
Based on this, tax-exempt distribution yields for the forecast year and projection year are 4.75 per cent for 2008 and 5.81per cent for 2009. Jonathan Yap, chief executive of the trustee-manager, Ascendas Property Fund Trustee, said the main driver for this increase would be the 1.1 million square feet of area under development, on top of a-iTrust's initial portfolio 3.6 million sq ft of built-up area with a gross value of about $932 million. The business trust is sponsored by Ascendas Land International Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascendas Pte Ltd. Mr Yap said that there was 'no projected portfolio target size per se', but pointed out that there was a further 4.2 million sqft of potential built-up area. He said plans are already in place to develop about 2.6 million sq ft in the first two financial years. Although a-iTrust has Reit characteristics, as a business trust it can undertake development projects of up to 20 per cent the value of its portfolio. Mr Yap said: 'It would be a shame not to participate in India through development.' a-iTrust seeks to raise around $500 million with its offer of 423.37 million units for subscription, subject to an over-allotment option of up to 42.33 million units. The offering consists of an international placement to institutions and other investors in Singapore and an offering to the public in Singapore, including 11.28 million units reserved for subscription by the directors, management, employees and business associates of Ascendas Land International. The placement tranche is said to be 45 times subscribed. Chong Siak Ching, president and CEO of Ascendas Group, said: 'The support for a-iTrust from prospective investors across the world has been tremendous.'
The initial diversified portfolio consists of four information technology (IT) parks in India. These are located in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, which together account for 64 per cent of India's IT and IT-enabled services market share.
The properties comprise International Tech Park Bangalore, International Tech Park Chennai and two IT parks in Hyderabad - The V and CyberPearl.
a-iTrust has a growth model comprising organic growth potential, including an 'in-built' development pipeline, and opportunities for external acquisitions boosted by rights of first refusal over a pipeline of potential properties.
These potential properties are managed by the sponsor and Ascendas India Development Trust, which holds a portfolio that includes about 40ha of land in Pune and Nagpur and target investment value of $1 billion.
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Ascendas India Trust, Singapore''s first listed Indian property trust, has priced units in its initial public offering at S$1.18 each to raise S$500 million, according to a prospectus posted on the Monetary Authority of Singapore''s Web site Tuesday.
The pricing confirms a Dow Jones Newswires report last week that the 423.4 million-unit offering would price at the top of an indicative range of S$1.01 to S$1.18 per unit.
The institutional tranche of 392.1 million units was over 40 times subscribed, a banker close to the deal told Dow Jones Newswires.
Strong demand comes as investors are keen to participate in India''s economic boom, and the trust is a gateway for many investors who previously had no direct access to the country''s real estate market.
At a price of S$1.18 per unit, the trust will pay a yield of 4.75% based on its 2008 distribution forecast.
Some 20% of the initial portfolio properties are sites that the trust will purchase and develop, while the remaining 80% consist of completed projects currently under lease contracts.
JP Morgan is the sole financial advisor for the offering and Citigroup and DBS are joint underwriters.
A public offering of 20 million units will open at 0400 GMT Wednesday and close at 2300 GMT On July 29.
The units are expected to begin trading on the Singapore Exchange at 0600 GMT on Aug. 1.
It will be S'pore's first listed Indian real estate trust
BUSINESS park developer Ascendas is set to launch Singapore's first listed Indian real estate trust, which will raise between $470 million and $550 million. The JTC Corporation subsidiary yesterday lodged a preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore for the listing of the business trust called Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust). No date has been set.
The Singapore-based trust has a target investment value of $1 billion and now holds about 100 acres of land in Pune and Nagpur. Its objective is to own income-producing real estate used primarily as business space in India. And it may acquire, own and develop land or uncompleted developments to be used as business space, holding the properties upon completion.
According to the prospectus, Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd is looking to offer 465,714,974 units (including over-allotment units) in the trust. The offering price will be between $1.01 and $1.18. Ascendas is expected to hold a 17 per cent stake in the trust.
The offer is being underwritten by JP Morgan, Citigroup Global Markets and DBS Bank. Ascendas will be the sponsor for the trust and will initially inject four properties into it. These are International Tech Park Bangalore, International Tech Park Chennai, The V Hyderabad, and CyberPearl Hyderabad.
Growth model outlined in the prospectus shows a-iTrust will have proposed developments totalling about 1.5 million sq ft of space. The prospectus also states that it has 2.7 million sq ft of land available for development.The trust may also make external acquisitions as it will have right of first refusal from its sponsor Ascendas and Ascendas India Development Trust.
Last month, Ascendas launched the $500 million Ascendas India Development Trust (AIDT) to invest in integrated real estate projects in India.
