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All about REIT Introduces concepts and terminologies about REIT.

About a Reit Talks about a particular REIT. Includes latest or historical performance, its business, and more.

Books and Thoughts About investment books and thoughts after reading.

REIT Financial News Latest financial news related to REIT

Commentary Commentary about news or trends affecting the REITs, or about the Market in general.

General Investment Tips, guide or thoughts about investment in general.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

About a Reit - CCT and the Office Sector

Recent Price Movement
After hitting a high above 1.2 in December 2009 (52 week high of 1.23 on 08 Dec 2009), the share price of CCT has went down along with the broader market in January and February 2010. After it has XD on 27 Jan 2010, the share price has started falling from 1.12 to below 1.10. There was much volatility, with the share price hitting and rebounding twice from the 1.01 region. The rebound last week was quite specular, with the share price touching a high of 1.12. However, at the end of the week it has gone down again, closing at 1.08.

Latest from the Earnings Report
There are some significant changes or plans revealed during its latest earnings report:
  • The NAV per unit has dropped rather significantly from 1.49 to 1.37. This is due to another 5.4% decrease in the fair value of the Trust’s investment properties compared to its last valuation on 22 May 2009.
  • The sale of Robinson Point for S$203.25 million. This is 11.4% above the property’s valuation as at 31 December 2009 and 69.7% higher than its appraised value of S$119.8 million in 2004 when it was acquired by the Trust. Robinson Point was one of the initial properties injected by its Sponsor Capitaland when it was listed.
  • Plan to redevelop Starhub Centre from a Commercial to a mix Commercial and Residential property. There has not been much details about this as it is still seeking approval from the authorities. According to an analyst report, CCT may co-develop with another property developer, and may keep the commercial part of the redeveloped property while selling the residential part, or it may sell the whole property. But it was only announced this week that the development charge for residential properties will be increased, while that of commercial properties will be decreased. This may have an impact on this plan.
Latest news about the Office Sector
Some extracts about the Office Sector from The Business Times (23 Feb 2010):
  • PRIME office rents continued to soften going into 2010 and could slip another 2-3 per cent this quarter, says Cushman & Wakefield.
  • The vacancy rate across prime office space improved slightly to 6.9 per cent from 7.4 per cent in Q4.
  • Cushman & Wakefield research director Ang Choon Beng expects new commercial developments to have a better year ahead, compared with existing ones. On the other hand, rents of existing office developments may continue slipping until the end of the year.
  • According to reports from various consultancies, Grade A office rents in Singapore dropped most significantly in Asia-Pacific in 2009 by more than 40 per cent year-on-year. This has raised the country’s cost competitiveness compared with other cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Latest news about REITs in General
Announced during Budget 2010, concessions on income tax, stamp duty and GST for REITs will be extended till March 31, 2015. This is significant for the REITs as these concessions were initially to be expired by Feb 17, 2010. This announcement has helped to lift the uncertainties, and is also a continuing show of support for REITs by the government.

Undervalue or still risky?
Among the REITs sectors, the office REITs are still laggard compared to sectors like retail, hospitality and healthcare. Hospitality REITs like CDL H-Trust have staged a significant run up, and this has started way before the recent report in significant turn around and increase in tourists arrival. In fact, when CDL H-Trust started to run up from around 0.70 to above 1.00 last year, there was still no significant upward jump in tourists arrival figures yet though the decline in arrivals has slowed. At that time, H1N1 was still a significant threat to the sector. The office REITs seems to be in a similar situation now. To date the rents are still decreasing, but at a slower pace. The oversupply of office space is the significant threat now. Some analysts are still recommending to avoid the office REITs, and the recent volatility has shown there is still much uncertainties in the sector. However, it is not possible to catch the exact bottom, and at some point in time we will need to access whether we want to take some risks in order to maximize the returns. One news of particular importance above is that the rents have dropped to levels which made us more competitive than Hong Kong and Tokyo, and we will have to see how significant this will contribute to the reversal of our office sector.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

REIT Financial News - 24 FEB 2010: Fortune Reit seeks dual-primary listing in Hong Kong

Fortune REIT seeks dual-primary listing in Hong Kong by way of introduction:

24 February 2010. ARA Asset Management (Fortune) Limited (the “Manager” ), as manager of Fortune Real Estate Investment Trust (“Fortune REIT”), wishes to announce that the Manager is seeking a dual primary listing of Fortune REIT’s units (“Units”) on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“SEHK”) by way of introduction (the “Introduction”).

See related reports:
Press Release
Proposal

Author's Note
Recently there has been much hype about S-Chips dual listing in China, Hong Kong (China XLX), Taiwan, and even in Oslo, Norway (China Fishery). Now even a Reit like Fortune Reit has chosen this path. Currently all the properties of Fortune Reit are in Hong Kong. It will be interesting to see whether the same upswing of share prices over some of the S-Chips that have gone for dual listing will also happen to Fortune Reit.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

About a Reit - Parkway Life Reit, a defensive healthcare Reit

Introduction
Parkway Life Reit is a healthcare Reit listed in SGX. Following is an extract about the Reit from its website http://www.plifereit.com:

"Parkway Life REIT is Asia's largest healthcare REIT. Listed on the Singapore Exchange in August 2007, Parkway Life REIT invests in income producing real estate or real estate related assets in the Asia Pacific region (including Singapore) that are used primarily for healthcare and/or healthcare-related purposes.

Parkway Life REIT aims to deliver regular and stable distributions and achieve long term growth for Unitholders."

The Sponsor
The sponsor of Parkway Life Reit is Parkway Holdings, also listed in SGX. Following is an extract about the Parkway Holdings from its website http://www.parkwayhealth.com:

"Parkway Holdings Limited, listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange since 1975, is one of the region's leading providers of healthcare services, with a network of 16 hospitals with more than 3,400 beds throughout Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, India and China. In Singapore, the Group owns Parkway Group Healthcare Pte Ltd and Parkway Hospitals Singapore Pte Ltd, which operates three of Singapore's premier healthcare providers: East Shore, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth Hospitals. The Group also owns Parkway Shenton Pte Ltd, a major provider of primary healthcare services; Medi-Rad Associates Ltd, a leading radiology services provider; and Parkway Laboratory Services Ltd, a major provider of laboratory services. In addition, Parkway Trust Management Limited provides management services to Parkway Life REIT, while Parkway Education Pte Ltd offers healthcare education through Parkway College of Nursing and Allied Health. The Group also operates 39 ParkwayHealth Patient Assistance Centres (PPAC) across the globe."

The Reit has a rights of first refusal agreement with its Sponsor over the sales of healthcare or healthcare-related assets in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Master Lessee
Parkway Life Reit is rather unique among the S-Reits in having its sponsor as its master lessee of the main bulk of its properties (all the 3 Singapore Hospital Properties). This may be viewed as a disadvantage or even a risk in terms of lack of tenant diversification from the point of view of the Reit. On the other hand, it is precisely this locked-in long term master leases which has helped to ensure 100% committed occupancy for the properties with a guaranteed constant revenue stream. Anyway this should not be a concern as long as Parkway Holdings has no issue with its operations, and currently there is no reason to think so. One of the major shareholders of Parkway Holdings is Khazanah Nasional (about 23% stake, the second largest after TPG Capital), the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Malaysia.

The Asset Portfolio
The Reit started off with 3 hospital properties in Singapore, namely Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital, and East Shore Hospital when it was listed in 2007. In 2008, it started to have overseas presence by acquiring 1 pharmaceutical facility and 9 nursing homes in Japan. Recently in Dec 2009, it has acquired another 8 nursing homes in Japan. So currently its total portfolio consists of 3 hospitals in Singapore, 17 nursing homes and 1 pharmaceutical facility in Japan. As at 31 Dec 09, approximately 71% of the Reit's gross revenue is derived from the Singapore Hospital Properties. So the main bulk of the rental income of the Reit is still from Singapore.

To date the Reit has not raised any funds by way of equity, whether by rights issue or private placement. The acquisitions of all the Japanese properties have been funded by debt, and this has progressively raised its gearing to 27.4%, with a total asset value of about S$1.1 billion. With a corporate rating of BBB+ by Fitch, the Reit can potentially gear up to 60%.

Inflation Hedge
The Singapore Hospital Properties of the Reit have a unique lease structure
that ensures a minimum guaranteed rental revenue growth pegged to CPI + 1%. CPI denotes the % increase in the Consumer Price Index announced by the Department of Statistic of Singapore for the relevant year compared to the immediately preceding year, computed on a 12-month average basis from July to June of the following year. Following is the related section about this taken from the Reit's IPO prospectus:

"Under each Master Lease Agreement, Parkway Life REIT will be entitled to receive from the Master Lessee, for the duration of the term of the Master Lease Agreement, rental payment, comprising a base rent and a variable rent. The aggregate rent for the Properties shall be the higher of the following:
(a)  an annual base rent of S$30.0 million and a variable rent of 3.8% of the   

      Master Lessee’s Adjusted Hospital Revenue for the current financial year; or
(b)  {1 + (CPI + 1.0%)} x the total rent payable for the immediate preceding year,
provided that the rental for the Financial Year ending 31 December 2007 shall be at least S$45.0 million (on an annualised basis) comprising a base rental of S$30.0 million plus a variable rental of S$15.0 million. Where the CPI is negative for any given year, the CPI shall be deemed to be zero for that particular year."


Simply put, there is an inflation hedge for the rental revenue of the Singapore Hospital Properties. There is also a minimum 1% upward rental revision in a deflationary situation when the CPI is negative. However, we must take note that the inflation hedge is on the rental revenue, which strictly speaking is more applicable to the landlord. As a unit holder, we still need to look at the stock dividend yield which depends on our entry price for the stock. Example you could have entered at a relatively high price that gives you a dividend yield of say only 5%. This will not help much in terms of inflation hedge if the CPI is at 6%. Having said that,this hedging feature is still a great advantage as it should ultimately bring about stability and consistent increment of the distributable income and the DPU.

Historical Share Price Movement 

The Reit came in relatively late into the picture compared to the other S-Reits. In fact, it was listed in August 2007, which was nearing the peak of the stock market and when the subprime issue was surfacing. It did not enjoy the euphoric rise in stock prices like a number of other S-Reits which were listed much earlier. In fact, its debut performance upon IPO was rather disappointing. The IPO price was 1.28, while the closing price of the first day of trading was 1.19, down by 7%.

It could be precisely because it has not experienced an euphoric rise in stock price, that its share price was rather stable around 1.2 to 1.3 for much of 2008 before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, while most of the S-Reits have their stock prices down by up to 50% from their peak. Its relatively low gearing of under 10% at that time could have also played a part.

Eventually it was still unable to escape the sell down after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Its stock price fell to a all time low of 0.645 (intra-day), closing at 0.655 on 28/10/2008. It recovered somewhat in the following weeks, but experienced another bottom at 0.680 on 10/03/2009. But overall its performance was still better than a number of other S-Reits, which fell by up to another 50%, bottoming around 25% of their peak prices.

Since March 2009, the Reit's stock price has been experiencing a slow but steady uptrend. Currently it is trading around 1.2 to 1.3, close to its NAV per unit of 1.37. In fact, it has achieved an all time high of 1.4 on 26/01/2010.

A Defensive Reit
This Reit can be considered one of the more defensive S-Reits. Following are some of the reasons:
  • It is in the healthcare sector, which should be the most stable and least risky compared to the other sectors such as office and hospitality.
  • The CPI + 1% inflation hedge feature, which helps to bring about stability and consistent increment in its rental income.
  • Based on the historical share price movement. This could be rather subjective and is purely based on observation. Its share price does seems to be more stable and steady. It may not move up as fast as a number of other Reits during an up trend, but it does not move down much also during a down trend.
Latest StatisticsDPU for 4Q 2009 is 2.05 cents per unit. Based on the closing price on 18/02/2010 of 1.3, this represents an annualized yield of about 6.3%. Following the latest acquisitions of 8 nursing homes in Japan, its gearing has increased to 27.4% while NAV per unit is at 1.37.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Stock Target Price - Updated Target Price for A-REIT

Updated Target Price for A-REIT by some brokerages following its announcement of new acquisitions.



Latest updates at Stock Target Price

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

REIT Financial News - 17 FEB 2010: A-REIT to acquire DBS Asia Hub and 31 Joo Koon Circle

A-REIT to enhance portfolio with proposed acquisitions of three properties totalling S$228.5 million. See related reports:
Press Release
Presentation Slides

Key Points
  • S&P Agreement to acquire DBS Asia Hub at 2 Changi Business Park Crescent in an Interested Party Transaction ("IPT") for S$116.0 million ("DBS Asia Hub").
  • S&P Agreement to acquire 31 Joo Koon Circle along Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, near the intersection of Pan Island Expressway and Ayer Rajah Expressway for S$15.0 million ("31 Joo Koon Circle").
  • MOU for the purchase of a property under development in Jurong for S$97.5 million. This property will only be acquired upon its completion which is expected to be in 2011/2012.
  • The annualised pro forma financial effect of the Acquisitions on the DPU for the financial year ended 31 March 2009 would be an additional 0.054 cents per unit.
  • The Manager intends to finance the Acquisitions with the proceeds from the August 2009 private placement of 185,000,000 new units in A-REIT (the "Private Placement"). S$131 million of the net proceeds (which
    is equivalent to approximately 44.3% of the net proceeds of the Private Placement) will be used to finance the Acquisitions.
Key Points for Acquisition of DBS Asia Hub

  • Purchase price : S$116 million.
  • DBS Asia Hub is a built-to-suit facility for DBS Bank by Ascendas (Tuas) Pte Ltd.
  • Strategically located at Changi Business Park.
  • The property is leased to DBS for 10 years and 1 month with annual rental escalation and an option to renew for another 3 terms of 3 years each.
  • DBS can exercise a conditional option for the landlord to construct Phase 2 of DBS Asia Hub.
Key Points for Acquisition of 31 Joo Koon Circle
  • Purchase price : S$15 million.
  • The property enjoys a prominent frontage along Jalan Ahmand Ibrahim and is in close proximity to the Joo Koon MRT station.
  • Upon completion of this sale and purchase agreement, Flextronics Manufacturing (Singapore) Pte Ltd ("FMS") will lease the property for 5 years with annual rental escalation and an option to renew for another 3 terms of 2 years each.

     


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Stock Target Price - Updated Target Price for Plife

Updated target price for Parkway Life Reit by CIMB. Maintain OUTPERFORM and TP S$1.57.

Latest updates at Stock Target Price

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Stock Target Price - Updated Target Price for CMT and LMIR

Updated target price for CMT by a number of brokerages following its announcement of acquisition of Clarke Quay.

Updated target price for LMIR following its results release.

Latest updates at Stock Target Price

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Stock Target Price - Updated Target Price for AIMSAMPI Reit

Philips Securities upgrades AIMS AMP Cap Industrial REIT from Sell to Hold. Target price maintained at 0.22.

Latest updates at Stock Target Price

REIT Financial News - 9 FEB 2010: CMT to acquire Clarke Quay from CapitaMalls Asia for S$268 million

CapitaMall Trust to acquire Clarke Quay from CapitaMalls Asia for S$268 million. See related reports:
Press Release
Announcement
Presentation Slides

Key Points
  • CapitaMall Trust to acquire Clarke Quay from CapitaMalls Asia for S$268 million.
  • Clarke Quay is an integrated food and beverage, entertainment and lifestyle riverfront development.
  • Transaction is expected to be yield-accretive.
  • Acquisition targeted for completion by July 2010.
  • Assuming the transaction is fully funded by debt, CMT's gearing would be 33.1%.


Monday, February 8, 2010

REIT Financial News - 8 FEB 2010: ARA and CWT to list new REIT - Cache LogisticsTrust (CLT)

ARA ASSET MANAGEMENT
- RECEIPT OF ELIGIBILITY-TO-LIST FOR THE PROPOSED LISTING OF A REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST. See announcement.
- ARA TO LIST ASIA PACIFIC-FOCUSED LOGISTICS REIT WITH CWT LIMITED. See press release.

Key Points
  • CLT will be established as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") investing principally in logistics properties in the Asia Pacific.
  • Initial portfolio of CLT will comprise six high quality logistics properties
    located in Singapore valued at approximately S$730 million.
  • CLT will be managed by ARA-CWT Trust Management (Cache) Limited, a joint venture REIT management company owned 60% by ARA and 40% by CWT Limited (“CWT”). 
  • CWT is the sponsor of CLT. It is intended that CLT will be granted a right of first refusal by CWT and its substantial shareholder, C&P, to acquire income-producing real estate located in the Asia Pacific region which is used primarily for logistics purposes.
  • Actual listing date and other details will be confirmed at a later date.
Author's Note
Both CWT and ARA Asset Management are listed companies in SGX. ARA is one of the largest REIT managers in Asia ex-Japan and currently manages four REITs listed in three countries namely, Fortune REIT and Suntec REIT listed in Singapore, Prosperity REIT listed in Hong Kong and AmFIRST REIT listed in Malaysia. CWT is one of Southeast Asia’s largest listed logistics companies.

If I remember correctly, the last REIT to be listed was Parkway Life Reit in August 2007 (if we do not consider IndiaBulls Property Trust, a property business trust listed in 2008).  It will be interesting to see how market reacts to this new member of REITs.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

REIT Financial News - 1 FEB 2010: FCOT Offer for Sale of 116,789,400 Series A CPPUs

Frasers Commercial Trust - Offer for Sale of 116,789,400 Series A CPPUs and Notice of Books Closure Date for the Series A CPPU Offering. See report.

Author's Note
Reporting this piece of news a few days late as I would like to share some thoughts about this offer. There is not much information about the Series A CPPU in the latest report filed in SGX. But more information could be found in the following reports filed in SGX last year, when the CPPU was first offered to institutions:


The latest offering is for existing FCOT unit holders, who are entitled to purchase one Series A CPPU for every 20 existing Units at S$1 per CPPU unit. Unlike the DPU for FCOT units which may vary, the DPU for CPPU unit is at a fixed amount. Based on the rate of 5.5% over the offer price of S$1, CPPU unit holder should get a fixed amount of 5.5 cents per unit per year.

From the point of view of the Trust, this is like a fixed interest borrowing of S$116.7 million at 5.5% per annum. The estimated payment for the CPPU units in this offer will come up to about S$6.4 per annum. If we include the CPPU units previously offered to institutions, the total of 342,500,000 CPPU units will require FCOT to pay about S$18.8 million per annum. Thus this new offer will likely reduce the DPU of existing FCOT unit holders since part of the distributable income will be used to pay the CPPU unit holders, unless the S$116.7 million raised could be used to purchase assets that can generate more than 5.5% per annum, or used to repay debts that are at a interest rate of more than 5.5% per annum.

Friday, February 5, 2010

REIT Financial News - 5 FEB 2010: FCT Completes Acquisition of Northpoint 2 and YewTee Point

Frasers Centrepoint Trust - Completion of Acquisitions of Northpoint 2 and YewTee Point and Use of Proceeds of the Private Placemen. See report.

Key Points
  • Proceeds of about S$177.8 million from the recent private placement of 137 million new units at S$1.33 per unit have been used to part finance the acquisitions.
  • The balance of S$110 million is financed by debt.


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Stock Target Price - Updated Target Price for K-Reit Asia and FrasersComm

DBS Vickers raise target price of K-Reit Asia from 1.11 to 1.13 following news of its Australian acquisition.

Philips Securities upgrades Frasers Commercial Trust to Buy with target price of 0.18.

Latest updates at Stock Target Price

Stock Movement - 3 FEB 2010: Starhill Global Price Movement XD

Interestingly, stock price of Starhill Global did not drop too much after XD. It closes at 0.550 today, and was trading in a narrow range of 0.545 - 0.550. The price is more or less back to levels during the CD period. There was a huge volume single transaction buy up of 1000 lots at the price of 0.550 in the afternoon trading.

Stock price of Starhill Global has been quite volatile since the announcement of acquisitions of the Australian and Malaysian properties in Nov 2009. The acquisition of David Jones Building was completed in 20 Jan 2010, and should contribute to the distribution in Q1 2010. There has yet to be any further updates on the acquisition of the Malaysian properties Starhill Gallery and Lot 10. The Reit manages to increase the DPU from 0.95 to 0.97 QoQ. Hopefully with the confirmation of the acquisition plan for the Malaysian properties, the Reit will be able trend upwards. The Reit was recently upgraded to Buy by DBS Vickers with a target price of 0.66.