The government has decided against relaxing tax exemption rules for real estate investment trusts or REITs. Senior Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua said the minimum payout ratio for REITs will not be cut. To qualify for the tax incentives, REITs are curently required to distribute at least 90 per cent of their taxable income to unit holders. If they do so, they are exempted from paying...
Singapore REITS
Property giant seeks $3.07 billion from existing shareholders IN A move to position itself for "opportunities in distressed assets", property giant CapitaLand is looking to raise $1.84 billion in a rights issue that analysts say could be a precursor of more fundraising exercises for developers. South-east Asia's largest property developer and its subsidiary - CapitaMall Trust (CMT), which has planned a...
Singapore developer CapitaLand announced Monday that it will raise S$1.84b through a rights issue. It says eligible shareholders will be entitled to subscribe for one new ordinary share for every two existing ordinary shares held as at the book closure date of 23 February, at S$1.30 per rights share. The company said the rights issue is a strategic initiative that is consistent with its policy of...
A group representing Asian property investors and developers has asked the Singapore government to step in, if necessary, to help real estate investment trusts (REITs) to refinance an estimated S$4 billion in debt due this year. The Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) has written a background paper on the issue. It said that real estate is a capital-intensive business, but at present there is...
Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust will pay 1.85 Singapore cents per unit for the fourth quarter of 2008. This is 10.1 per cent higher than the same period a year ago. For the three months to December last year, Starhill Global REIT had distributable income of S$18.1 million. The Trust says its net property income over the period was 17.1 per cent higher at S$26.0 million. This is due mainly...
CDL Hospitality Trusts will pay unitholders 1.8 cents per stapled security for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2008. This is about 34 per cent lower than the same period in 2007. But the full-year distribution per unit is up by 18 per cent to 10.62 cents in 2008, compared with a year ago. The Trust said its net property income rose nearly 20 per cent on-year to S$102.8 million. Gross revenues...
Parkway Life REIT (PREIT) will pay 1.84 cents per unit for its fiscal fourth quarter. This is nearly 18 per cent higher than its forecast. For the full year, unitholders can expect a payout of 6.83 cents per unit - about 9 per cent higher than forecast. All in for the full year, PREIT had S$41.2 million to distribute to unitholders, exceeding its forecast by 9.4 per cent. PREIT said its total net...
CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) will pay 11 cents per unit for its full year 2008, up 26 per cent from the previous financial year. The trust reported distributable income of S$153 million for its financial year ended 31 December 2008. CCT said it performed well in 2008 because of higher rental reversions and the addition of the One George Street property to the portfolio. The trust has also refinanced...
K-REIT Asia's distribution per unit (DPU) climbed one per cent for the 12 months ended December 2008, hitting 8.91 Singapore cents. Total revenue for the period was up 84.2 per cent to S$23.4 million. The strong results were attributed to increasing rental rates. But real estate trust said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange that the current economic downturn is expected to affect its earnings,...
News of a pair of S-Reit refinancings is good sign THE recent news of two successful refinancings bodes well for the broader Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-Reit) sector. CapitaCommercial Trust announced last week that it would be able to refinance some $580 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) due in March 2009, using a 3-year term loan facility with four banks. In...