Malaysia has become the preferred listing destination for Sunway City Bhd’s (SunCity) proposed real estate investment trust (REIT) although it is not ruling out other proposals for reverse takeovers in Singapore and Australia.

From SunCity executive director Datuk Jeffrey Ng, the authorities in Malaysia are very proactive and doing their level best to get the more established companies to list in Malaysia. Malaysia is definitely a preferred destination by SunCity but they are looking to other opportunities as well.

Industry sources added that companies also had a more positive view following the revamp of main and second boards into a unified board, further improvement in processes and procedures as well as liberalisation of the 30% bumiputra quota in 27 service sub-sectors.

If something very firm comes up, SunCity will study it in the best interests of shareholders, how to buying investment property can generate profit. One of which is GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corp). Early last year, SunCity was reported to be more keen on listing in Singapore where the tax regime is more attractive to REIT investors in relation to withholding tax.

However, the global financial crisis, which erupted in the later part of last year, has changed the scenario and investors turned risk averse. In terms of mandate, this represents a fresh opportunity to select possibly new parties that can give the best terms. Under the old mandate, the global investment banks were Goldman Sachs and UBS while the local investment banks were CIMB Investment Bank and RHB Investment Bank. Read more »

Property in Malaysia & Malaysia’s real estate investment trusts (REITs) have been sold down and are trading below their net asset values (NAV), made worse by the softening property market and weakening rent yields.

The challenges facing REITs is not only the negative property market sentiment towards equity, but also the inability to raise capital growth due to tightening credit. Despite the challenging economic conditions this year, REIT managers in the country are confident they can mitigate the impact by looking at various options to raise capital, acquiring properties prudently and focusing on existing assets to ensure strong tenancy.

Axis REIT Managers Bhd chief executive officer and executive director Stewart LaBrooy said part of the growth process of a REIT was to continuously acquire properties to enlarge its portfolio.Axis REIT would not discount the possibility of future acquisitions this year although it may not be as intensive as y2008.
But any potential acquisitions will need to be yield-accretion. Read more »