SINGAPORE (Oct 28): Another week, another placement. Mapletree Logistics Trust’s Oct 22 announcement of a proposed private placement to raise $250 million has taken monies raised by real estate investment trusts through follow-ons alone to almost $4.6 billion. Demand for MLT’s placement units was strong even though, at its current price of $1.69 a unit and placement price of $1.617 a unit, yields are remarkably low for an industrial REIT, at just 4.9% and 5% respectively, based on the annualised distribution per unit yield of 8.1 cents. The private placement was more than 13 times covered and saw strong participation from new and existing institutional, accredited and other investors, MLT’s manager announced.
For 2QFY2020 ended Sept 30, MLT reported a DPU of 2.025 cents and net asset value of $1.17. The placement price represents a 38% premium to NAV, making any acquisition accretive.
