Ascendas Hospitality Trust reduces size of IPO in Singapore

Posted on 18 Jul 2012 | Comments Off on Ascendas Hospitality Trust reduces size of IPO in Singapore

Ascendas Hospitality Trust has reduced the size of its initial public offering in Singapore.

It is now offering 437.325 million stapled securities, a downward revision from initial plans to sell between 506.075 million and 529.648 million units.

In its prospectus registered on Wednesday, Ascendas Hospitality said the shares will be priced at S$0.88 per stapled security.

Ascendas Hospitality will also sell S$247.3 million worth of securities to its sponsor Ascendas Group as well as S$76.5 million securities to cornerstone investors including hotel operator Accor Asia Pacific.

All in, the market cap for Ascendas Hospitality Trust is S$707 million, compared to S$770 million in a preliminary prospectus lodged previously.

The Public Offer opens at 8.00am on July 19 and closes at noon on July 24.

In a separate statement, Ascendas Hospitality said it will proceed with the IPO without the Pullman Ambassador Changwon hotel in South Korea, which was listed in the initial portfolio.

Ascendas Hospitality explains that it was informed recently that injunctions had been made by creditors against the vendor of the South Korean hotel, and it will affect the Trust’s ability to acquire the property on time for its inclusion in the portfolio.

With the removal of the South Korean hotel, the portfolio will now comprise 10 hotels valued at some S$1.06 billion, down from S$1.2 billion previously.

These assets are located in China, Australia and Japan.

Ascendas Hospitality Trust is made up predominately of Ascendas Hospitality Business Trust (80 per cent), with the other 20 per cent of the counter stapled to Ascendas Hospitality REIT.

The Stapled Securities are expected to commence trading on the SGX-ST at 2.00pm on July 27.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 18 Jul 2012

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Home prices rise in more Chinese cities

Posted on 18 Jul 2012 | Comments Off on Home prices rise in more Chinese cities

Home prices in more Chinese cities rose in June from the previous month as recent interest rate cuts encouraged buying and stoked expectations of a rebound in prices, the government said on Wednesday.

New home prices in 25 out of the 70 Chinese cities tracked by the government increased in June from the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, up from just six in May.

The spread of price rises to more cities came despite steps to tighten the market in place for more than two years, including bans on buying second homes, hiking minimum down-payments and imposing property taxes in certain areas.

Expectations for a price rebound are on the rise after the economy recorded its slowest increase in more than three years in the second quarter, raising the likelihood of more policies to boost growth the rest of this year.

The central bank this month took the rare step of slashing interest rates for the second time since early June, which drove up home sales as mortgage costs were reduced, Ma Xiaoming, an NBS analyst, said in the statement.

Ma said housing demand has been accumulating amid efforts to cool the market and consumers rushed during June to buy due to “worries of a rebound in housing prices”.

Prices of new homes in another 24 cities were unchanged in June compared with 21 the previous month, while 21 cities saw prices fall on a monthly basis, down from 43 in May, the data showed.

Government officials have attributed the slowdown of the world’s second-largest economy, which grew 7.6 percent on-year from April to June, to the weakening of the property market as well as sluggish foreign demand.

Before the interest rate cuts, the government had since December already cut three times the amount of money banks must keep in reserve, to stimulate lending.

Chinese leaders have vowed to take further measures, and Premier Wen Jiabao last week called stabilising economic growth the government’s “top priority”.

Ba Shusong, a prominent government researcher, called on authorities to loosen controls on lending to buyers of small and medium-sized homes to bolster the economy, the state-run Economic Information Daily said on Wednesday.

Source CNA – 2012 Jul 18

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