Reports » Singapore

Singapore stock market and companies daily report (Ascendas India Trust, Ezra Holdings) (September 28, 2012)

Contributed by Shares Investment

Business Trusts Line Up Attractive Yields
Among the business trusts listed on SGX, six are maintaining indicative dividend yields ranging from 6.2 percent to 9.1 percent, according to a SGX My Gateway report issued yesterday. Indicative dividends consist of the most recently announced dividend amount, annualised based on the established dividend payment frequency. The yield is then obtained by dividing the annualised amount by the closing price of each unit of the business trust. Among these six, Rickmers Maritime Trust offered the highest indicative dividend yield of 9.1 percent, followed by Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT), at 8.6 percent. K-Green Trust offered the lowest indicative dividend yield of 6.2 percent. Taking into account its stock performance over the past 12 months, HPHT generated a total return of 24.5 percent after adjusting for the depreciation of the greenback against the Singapore dollar. Ascendas India Trust generated the lowest total return of 8 percent.
Significance: All six business trusts managed to produce commendable total returns over the past 12 months relative to the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI), despite maintaining their 12 month raw beta ratios below 1, suggesting that these trusts were less volatile than the STI.

A-iTrust To Raise $70m to $100m Proceeds To Fund Growth
Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) is looking to launch a private placement of new units, with the new units to be offered at an issue price of $0.72 per new unit. The issue price represents a discount of 9.2 percent to the adjusted volume weighted average price of $0.79 on 27 September 2012. This would be a-iTrust’s first follow-on equity fund raising since its listing in 2007. It expects to raise $70 million, with an upsize option to raise additional $30 million, to fund growth. The majority of the net proceeds to be raised from this private placement will be used to finance a-iTrust’s targeted growth initiatives in the construction and acquisition of aVance Building 3 in Hyberabad, which is expected to complete by early 2013, and the construction of Aviator, a new multi-tenanted building in International Tech Park Bangalore, scheduled for completion by December 2013.
Significance: A-iTrust believes that the private placement will provide the trust-manager with greater financial capacity to capitalise on existing growth opportunities which are expected to deliver significant yield and value accretion to a-iTrust’s existing unitholders.

Ezra Spinoff Triyards’ Mainboard Listing Set For 18 Oct-12
TRIYARDS, Ezra Holdings’ fabrication yard spin-off, is scheduled to list on the Singapore Exchange’s Mainboard on 18 October 2012. Its listing will be through a dividend-in-specie allotted to existing Ezra shareholders, with every 10 Ezra shares entitled to one Triyards share. Post-listing, Ezra’s interest in Triyards will drop from 100 percent to 67 percent. Triyards provides integrated engineering, ship construction and fabrication services out of its three yard facilities located in Vietnam (two) and the US (one). Wong Bheet Huan, Triyards’ chief executive officer said: “Triyards has already built up a significant track record and established itself as a leader in the fabrication of self-elevating, mobile offshore units in South-east Asia. We are confident of making our own mark in the industry while remaining a valuable but distinct member of the Ezra Group.”
Significance: As of 31 August 2012, Triyards’ order book stands at US$613.1 million. Some of Triyards’ notable projects include the Lewek Constellation, a complex ice-class deepwater multi-lay vessel with heavy-lift capabilities, and the world’s first 425-foot leg length mobile self-elevating unit. For more information on TRIYARDS’ listing and past financial performance