Singapore: Lendlease Global Commercial REIT, Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust, Singapore Press Holdings, Ums Holdings, SGX and more

• Lendlease REIT is looking to raise up to US$427m via a private placement and a preferential offering.
• The deal is very well flagged as the acquisition was announced in Feb 2022 and the EGM approval for the same was received earlier this month.
• In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the recent updates.

• Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT SP) has introduced a new cash-only consideration of S$1.1949 per MNACT unit. The scheme meeting is at the end-May with an effective date of end-August. 
• Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MAGIC SP)/MNACT will continue to be able to pay permitted distributions – consensus 2HFY21/22 DPU of 3.57 cents to be paid in June.
• Quarz Capital now supports the merger. Including potential permitted 2H MNACT DPU and at last close, the gross spread to the cash-only consideration is 0.9%. 

• Topday, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH SP) shareholders met in an EGM and a Scheme Meeting to approve the takeover of SPH and distribution of SPH REIT (SPHREIT SP) units.
• Shareholders passed resolutions at both meetings, meaning the Cuscaden Peak Pte acquisition is approved. 
• This means we move to next steps, which is choosing the Consideration, and possible MGO Chain Offer on SPH REIT (SPHREIT SP). 

• UMS Holdings’ stock price has been oversold in the past several weeks. It posted excellent results in 4Q 2021 and its valuations have become more attractive. 
• If the global semiconductor cycle undergoes a major downtrend, UMS Holdings would not be immune from such downturn and the company is likely to experience lower sales and profit growth.
• We believe that UMS Holdings has 20% to 40%+ upside from current levels over the next one year, based on historical valuation multiples in the past three years. 

For our next Webinar, Analyst Kyle Rudden continues his series on ESG, in collaboration with SGX (SGX SP). Typically, ESG conversations are “long-only equity”. Historically, that was the only context for ESG. But ESG is making its way into other asset classes and non-traditional (for ESG) situations. Sovereign ESG is a hot topic lately (Russia/Ukraine). So, too, is ESG and private equity, venture capital, and M&A. And short-selling… that looming (supposedly) “Big Short” as hedge funds short-sell their way to carbon-neutral portfolios (a debated strategy). This Webinar, part 6 in the series, will cover ESG from alt-angles. 

The webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 30 March 2022, 17:00 SGT/HKT.