Sunway REIT announces purchase of 4 mln units
July 13, 2010, Tuesday
KUCHI NG: Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT) has announced the purchase of its four million units, priced at a range between RM0.875 and RM0.885 per unit, to RHB Investment Bank Bhd (RHB Investment) as stabilising manager.In its note to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the REIT unit of conglomerate Sunway Holdings Bhd (Sunway) said that the exercise , which was conducted last Friday, was in accordance with Section 9(2) of the Capital Markets and Services (Price Stabilisation Mechanism) Regulations 2008.
The corporate exercise entailed Sunway REIT’s debut on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market on July 8, where it posted a one sen discount over its offer price of RM0.90 upon listing.
In his recent statement, Sunway’s chairman and founder Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah said the REIT’s initial public offering (IPO) had been well over- subscribed in spite of the volatility in the market, demonstrating the strength of the country’s capital market.
“With the listing of this REIT, we hope to see more players with deeper awareness and investments in the Malaysian REIT market. Hopefully, we can cont inue to gain positive momentum and support, from investors and regulators alike,” he said.
Repor tedly, Sunway REIT’s IPO was touted as the largest in the country and also in Asia, excluding Japan, since 2007 when Champion REIT’s IPO in Hong Kong raised around US$800 million in its mid-2006 listing.
Post-listing, the REIT could expect proceeds amount ing to US$ 455 million (approximately RM1.47 billion). Upon listing, Sunway REIT had assets worth RM3.7 billion and a free float of RM1.6 billion.
Within it, eight properties were injected into the REIT namely Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, Sunway Carnival Shopping Mall , SunCity Ipoh Hypermarket, Sunway Resort Hotel and Spa, Pyramid Tower Hotel, Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya, Menara Sunway as well as Sunway Tower.
Equipped with the considerably large asset base, Sunway REIT could easily leverage and borrow a subs tant ial amount for its property acquisitions at a later time,
