IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Event-Driven

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/esr-reit" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10934:1" rel="noopener">ESR-REIT (EREIT SP)</a> announced the proposed merger with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ara-logos-logistics-trust" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:937:1" rel="noopener">ARA LOGOS (ALLT SP)</a> by way of a trust scheme of arrangement. Under the scheme consideration, each ALLT unitholder will receive S$0.095 in cash and 1.6765 new EREIT units at an issue price of S$0.510. The total consideration implies a gross exchange ratio of 1.863x and a total scheme consideration of S$0.950 per ALLT unit, which is a 1.6% premium to the ALLT last close price of S$0.935 per unit (on 14 October). </p><p>The merger was widely anticipated to avoid conflicts of interest arising from the proposed acquisition of ARA Asset Management by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/esr-cayman-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27983:1" rel="noopener">ESR Cayman (1821 HK)</a> for a total consideration of US$5.2 billion, which was announced on 5 August 2021. ESR Cayman which owns 67% of EREIT’s manager would also own 100% of ALLT’s manager on completion of the acquisition resulting in overlapping investment mandates.</p><p>A key issue is on pricing particularly the EREIT issue price of S$0.510 which is based on EREIT’s 52-week high. Notably, at the last close EREIT price of S$0.465, implies a scheme consideration of S$0.875 per ALLT unit, which is a -6.5% discount to the ALLT last close price of S$0.935 per unit (on 14 October). </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>As the cash consideration represents just 10% of the total scheme consideration, ALLT unitholders have greater exposure to any post-merger share price gains driven by the enlarged REIT’s higher free float, lower cost of capital, cost savings and higher growth potential. While short-term pricing concerns will linger, we note that the scheme consideration even at the last close EREIT price seems reasonable. Consequently, we believe that the merger will get the nod from both sets of unitholders.</p></div>

ESR-REIT (EREIT SP) announced the proposed merger with ARA LOGOS (ALLT SP) by way of a trust scheme of arrangement. Under the scheme consideration, each ALLT unitholder will receive S$0.095 in cash and 1.6765 new EREIT units at an issue price of S$0.510. The total consideration implies a gross exchange ratio of 1.863x and a total scheme consideration of S$0.950 per ALLT unit, which is a 1.6% premium to the ALLT last close price of S$0.935 per unit (on 14 October). The merger was widely anticipated to avoid conflicts of interest arising from the proposed acquisition of ARA Asset Management by ESR Cayman (1821 HK) for a total consideration of US$5.2 billion, which was announced on 5 August 2021. ESR Cayman which owns 67% of EREIT’s manager would also own 100% of ALLT’s manager on completion of the acquisition resulting in overlapping investment mandates.A key issue is on pricing particularly the EREIT issue price of S$0.510 which is based on EREIT’s 52-week high. Notably, at the last close EREIT price of S$0.465, implies a scheme consideration of S$0.875 per ALLT unit, which is a -6.5% discount to the ALLT last close price of S$0.935 per unit (on 14 October). As the cash consideration represents just 10% of the total scheme consideration, ALLT unitholders have greater exposure to any post-merger share price gains driven by the enlarged REIT’s higher free float, lower cost of capital, cost savings and higher growth potential. While short-term pricing concerns will linger, we note that the scheme consideration even at the last close EREIT price seems reasonable. Consequently, we believe that the merger will get the nod from both sets of unitholders.

ESR-REIT’s Proposed Merger with ARA LOGOS

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

<div>
<p>Keppel DC REIT (KDCREIT SP) plans to raise up to US$151m (S$204m) via a mix of a private placement. The company will use the proceeds to fund the recent acquisition of its first China data centre and to pay down debt. </p>
<p>In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.</p>
<p>We have covered the listing and previous placements for KDC in our earlier notes:</p>
</div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Sep 2019 placement for US$273m: <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/keppel-dc-reit-placement-just-in-time-for-the-index-inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keppel DC REIT Placement - Just in Time for the Index Inclusion</a>
</li>
<li>May 2018 placement for US$228m: <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/keppel-dc-reit-placement-accretive-acquisition-and-probably-expected-dilution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Keppel DC REIT Placement - Accretive Acquisition and Probably Expected Dilution</a>
</li>
<li>IPO: <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/first-of-its-kind-exposure-to-rapidly-growing-data-centers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First of its kind exposure to rapidly growing data centers</a>
</li>
</ul></div>


Keppel DC REIT (KDCREIT SP) plans to raise up to US$151m (S$204m) via a mix of a private placement. The company will use the proceeds to fund the recent acquisition of its first China data centre and to pay down debt. 
In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.
We have covered the listing and previous placements for KDC in our earlier notes:

Sep 2019 placement for US$273m: Keppel DC REIT Placement - Just in Time for the Index Inclusion

May 2018 placement for US$228m: Keppel DC REIT Placement - Accretive Acquisition and Probably Expected Dilution

IPO: First of its kind exposure to rapidly growing data centers



Keppel DC REIT Placement - Most of the past Deals Have Done Well, Though This Won’t Be Accretive

Mapletree Industrial Trust / Equity Capital Markets

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mapletree-industrial-trust" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40:1" rel="noopener">Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT SP)</a> plans to raise around US$385m (S$513m) to partly fund the acquisition of 29 data centres located in the United States.</p><p>We have covered three of the past placements for MINT:</p><ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/mint-placement-known-asset-more-data-centres-less-sme-exposure-heading-in-the-right-direction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MINT Placement - Known Asset, More Data Centres, Less SME Exposure -&gt; Heading in the Right Direction</a></p></li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/mint-placement-accretive-acquisition-but-look-out-for-the-rising-leverage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MINT Placement - Accretive Acquisition but Look Out for the Rising Leverage</a></p></li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/mint-placement-well-flagged-placement-but-only-marginally-accretive-past-deals-have-done-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MINT Placement - Well Flagged Placement but Only Marginally Accretive, Past Deals Have Done Well</a></p></li>
</ul><p>In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.</p>

Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT SP) plans to raise around US$385m (S$513m) to partly fund the acquisition of 29 data centres located in the United States.We have covered three of the past placements for MINT:
MINT Placement - Known Asset, More Data Centres, Less SME Exposure -&gt; Heading in the Right Direction
MINT Placement - Accretive Acquisition but Look Out for the Rising Leverage
MINT Placement - Well Flagged Placement but Only Marginally Accretive, Past Deals Have Done Well
In this insight, we'll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about deal dynamics.

Mapletree Industrial (MINT SP) Placement - Large but Accretive Deal, Becoming More like Keppel DC

Equity Bottom-Up

<p>Chindata is a data centre operator. It is the largest carrier-neutral hyperscale data centre operator in Asia-Pacific emerging markets as measured by capacity in service, according to Frost &amp; Sullivan. The MSCI May 2021 review period has just wrapped up, and Chindata is among the stocks with the highest probability of inclusion in the MSCI Standard index and the largest buying impact from passive funds - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/msci-may-2021-index-rebalance-preview-let-the-games-begin" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:50473" rel="noopener">MSCI May 2021 Index Rebalance Preview: Let The Games Begin</a>.  </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>After touching $23.65 per ADS on 26 Feb 2021, Chindata has derated and is down 45% YTD. The last close price of $13.19 per ADS is 2% below the IPO price of $13.50 per ADS. The Asia-Pacific hyperscale data centre market remains a structural growth market in part due to the increasing prevalence of outsourcing data centre services, rising client demand for higher power density, and increasing regulatory requirements on data security. Overall, we think that Chindata remains an attractive play on these favourable market dynamics and the shares are worth a closer look. </p></div>

Chindata is a data centre operator. It is the largest carrier-neutral hyperscale data centre operator in Asia-Pacific emerging markets as measured by capacity in service, according to Frost &amp; Sullivan. The MSCI May 2021 review period has just wrapped up, and Chindata is among the stocks with the highest probability of inclusion in the MSCI Standard index and the largest buying impact from passive funds - MSCI May 2021 Index Rebalance Preview: Let The Games Begin.  After touching $23.65 per ADS on 26 Feb 2021, Chindata has derated and is down 45% YTD. The last close price of $13.19 per ADS is 2% below the IPO price of $13.50 per ADS. The Asia-Pacific hyperscale data centre market remains a structural growth market in part due to the increasing prevalence of outsourcing data centre services, rising client demand for higher power density, and increasing regulatory requirements on data security. Overall, we think that Chindata remains an attractive play on these favourable market dynamics and the shares are worth a closer look. 

Soilbuild Business Space REIT / Event-Driven

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/soilbuild-business-space-reit" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13446:1" rel="noopener">Soilbuild Business Space REIT (SBREIT SP)</a> has announced a privatisation offer from Mr Lim Chap Huat (executive Chairman) and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/blackstone-group-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27166:1" rel="noopener">Blackstone Group LP (BX US)</a> at S$0.55 cash per unit. The privatisation price is a premium of 8% to the last close price of S$0.51 per unit (8 December prior to the trading halt) and a 27.9% to the unaffected price of S$0.430 per unit (31 August 2020 prior to the announcement of a possible transaction involving Mr Lim Chap Huat’s stake). The effective date for the trust scheme meeting is targeted for the end of March 2021 with delisting in early April 2021. </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>SB REIT faces challenging market conditions due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. A combination of high DPU yield and limited debt headroom is a constraint to driving growth through DPU accretive acquisitions. Over the past few years, SB REIT’s sponsor has received several privatisation proposals and the current offer is the highest offer price received to date. Overall, while the bid is not a knockout bid particularly for long-term unitholders, we think that a reasonable offer (offer values SB REIT broadly in line with its latest adjusted NAV) makes it likely that the offer succeeds. </p></div>

Soilbuild Business Space REIT (SBREIT SP) has announced a privatisation offer from Mr Lim Chap Huat (executive Chairman) and Blackstone Group LP (BX US) at S$0.55 cash per unit. The privatisation price is a premium of 8% to the last close price of S$0.51 per unit (8 December prior to the trading halt) and a 27.9% to the unaffected price of S$0.430 per unit (31 August 2020 prior to the announcement of a possible transaction involving Mr Lim Chap Huat’s stake). The effective date for the trust scheme meeting is targeted for the end of March 2021 with delisting in early April 2021. SB REIT faces challenging market conditions due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. A combination of high DPU yield and limited debt headroom is a constraint to driving growth through DPU accretive acquisitions. Over the past few years, SB REIT’s sponsor has received several privatisation proposals and the current offer is the highest offer price received to date. Overall, while the bid is not a knockout bid particularly for long-term unitholders, we think that a reasonable offer (offer values SB REIT broadly in line with its latest adjusted NAV) makes it likely that the offer succeeds. 

Soilbuild Business Space REIT’s Privatisation Bid

Singapore

Keppel DC REIT is Asia's first pure-play data centre REIT listed on the Singapore Exchange. Keppel DC REIT's investment strategy is to principally invest, directly or indirectly, in a diversified portfolio of income-producing real estate assets which are used primarily for data centre purposes, as well as real estate related assets.

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Keppel DC REIT (KDCREIT SP)

ESR-REIT’s Proposed Merger with ARA LOGOS

A key issue is on pricing particularly the EREIT issue price of S$0.510, based on EREIT’s 52-week high. While short-term pricing concerns will...

Arun George

Keppel DC REIT Placement - Most of the past Deals Have Done Well, Though This Won’t Be Accretive

Keppel DC REIT (KDCREIT SP) plans to raise up to US$151m (S$204m) via a mix of a private placement. The company will use the proceeds to fund the...

Sumeet Singh

Mapletree Industrial (MINT SP) Placement - Large but Accretive Deal, Becoming More like Keppel DC

Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT SP) plans to raise around US$385m (S$513m) to partly fund the acquisition of 29 data centres located in the United...

Sumeet Singh

Chindata Group: Data Centre Value

Chindata is among the stocks with the highest probability of inclusion in the MSCI Standard index but the shares are down 45% YTD. The valuation is...

Arun George

Soilbuild Business Space REIT’s Privatisation Bid

SB REIT announced a privatisation offer from Mr Lim Chap Huat and Blackstone at S$0.55 cash per unit, a 27.9% to the unaffected price of S$0.430...

Arun George

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