This post was originally posted here. The writer, Lim Jun Yuan is a veteran community member and blogger on InvestingNote, with username known as ljunyuan and has 1394 followers.
This morning, retail REIT Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX:J69U) held its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to seek unitholders’ approval on the REIT’s proposed acquisition of the remaining 63.1% stake in AsiaRetail Fund Limited (whose portfolio consists of Tiong Bahru Plaza, White Sands, Hougang Mall, Century Square, Tampines 1, and Central Plaza), proposed equity fundraising, as well as the proposed divestment of Bedok Point.
I have attended the EGM as a unitholder of the REIT and for the benefit of those who weren’t able to attend, in this post, you’ll find a summary of the presentation by Mr Richard Ng (the CEO of the REIT) on how the acquisition of AsiaRetail Fund Limited is beneficial for the REIT and its unitholders, results of the resolutions that were put to vote, along with responses to some of the questions raised by unitholders…
Benefits of the Proposed Acquisition of AsiaRetail Fund Limited
The following are some of the key benefits of the REIT’s proposed acquisition of the remaining 63.1% stake of AsiaRetail Fund Limited to highlight:
- From 7 malls in the REIT’s portfolio currently, post-acquisition, its portfolio will have 11 malls. Some of the other key statistics include REIT’s portfolio net lettable area increasing from 1.4m sq ft to more than 2.3m sq ft, along with the number of leases increasing from 800 to more than 1,500.
- The proposed acquisition is a DPU-accretive one, and based on its DPU for FY2019, after the acquisition of AsiaRetail Fund Limited, as well as after the divestment of Bedok Point, the REIT’s DPU will be increased to 13.02 cents/unit (from 11.99 cents/unit) – this represents an increase by 8.59%.
- Post-acquisition, Frasers Centrepoint Trust will become 8th largest S-REIT (in terms of market capitalization), as well as being the 8th largest S-REITs by free-float – this will result in a higher index weightage in the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT index, and this will also expand the REIT’s outreach to new investors.
- The enlarged portfolio will also see a reduced concentration risk from any single asset (from around 30% now to no more than 22% post-acquisition.)
- In terms of tax leakages, Mr Ng share that currently, the REIT is incurring costly tax leakages of approximately S$4.7m annually as a partial owner of AsiaRetail Fund Limited. However, post-acquisition, it will be able to reduce its tax by approximately $400k to $500k a month.
- While post-acquisition, the REIT will see its gearing ratio increased to 39.3% (from 35.0% currently), but Mr Ng highlighted that its average cost of debt will be reduced to 2.3% (from 2.5%), and at the same time, its weighted average debt maturity will be extended to 4.3 years (from 2.3 years at present.)
Results of the Resolutions
The following are results of the 5 resolutions proposed at the EGM:
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