SINGAPORE: CapitaMalls Asia Limited has received approval from the Securities Commission of Malaysia to list its Malaysian assets on Bursa Malaysia in the form of a real estate investment trust (REIT).

Approval was given to list 1.35 billion units of CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust (CMMT). The CMMT units will be offered to institutional and other investors in Malaysia and overseas and to the general public in Malaysia only.

A total of 786,522,000 units will be offered, with CapitaMalls Asia retaining a stake of 41.74% in CMMT. If the company decides to exercise an over allotment option of up to 15% of the proposed offering, CapitaMalls Asia will retain a stake of 33% in CMMT.

According to CapitaMalls Asia, the Employees Provident Fund Board of Malaysia and Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Bhd have agreed to buy 11.4% of the initial public offering (IPO) at RM1.10 per unit or the institutional price, whichever is lower.

At RM1.10, the estimated distribution yields for the Forecast Period 2010 and Forecast Year 2011 are 6.5% and 6.8% respectively.

“The planned listing of CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust is part of CapitaMalls Asia’s strategy to list in the home markets of our assets, and to recycle capital for reinvestment. It will enable CapitaMalls Asia to accelerate our growth in Malaysia, and develop fee based income for the company,” CapitaMalls Asia chief operating officer, Lim Beng Chee was quoted as saying in news reports out of Singapore on June 11.

However, the decision to proceed with the proposed listing depends on a number of factors including prevailing market conditions, he added.

CMMT’s nitial portfolio comprises three shopping malls across Malaysia namely Gurney Plaza in Penang, an interest in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and The Mines in Selangor. The portfolio has a total net lettable area of 1.88 million sq ft. AmTrustee Bhd, the CMMT Trustee valued the portfolio at RM2.13 billion.

If listed, CMMT is expected to be Malaysia’s largest “pure play” shopping mall REIT by market capitalization and property value.

CMMT is the second REIT the CapitaLand Group is sponsoring in Malaysia, the first being Quill Capita Trust that was listed in 2007.

Malaysia is a key growth market for CapitaMalls Asia and the third largest contributor to the company’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 with a contribution of S$52.4 million.


 







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