CapitaLand Ltd. (CAPL), Southeast Asia’s
biggest developer, is selling part of its 59 percent stake in
Australand Property Group (ALZ) to raise as much as A$433.7 million
($408 million).
CapitaLand is offering 115.7 million shares, equal to about
20 percent of Australand’s outstanding securities, the company
said in a filing through the stock exchange today. CapitaLand is
offering the shares at A$3.685 to A$3.750 each, according to
transaction terms seen by Bloomberg News, compared with a market
price of A$3.75 before trading was halted.
The Singapore-based developer this year carried out a
review of its businesses, which it concluded in July with a
decision to keep its stake in Sydney-based Australand. During
the review, several parties expressed an interest in all or part
of Australand’s business. The Australian developer said
yesterday that it expects impairments of about A$65 million in
its commercial and residential development businesses.
The sale “is in line with what CapitaLand said earlier
about their non-core assets,” Wilson Liew, Singapore-based
analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Holdings Ltd., said in a phone
interview. “If they get a good price, they would look to
sell.”
CapitaLand is selling the stake through an accelerated
book-build process underwritten by Citigroup Inc., according to
the filing. The shares will be priced and allocated tomorrow,
with terms of the sale announced following that, the developer
said today.
Australand Bids
Australand shares were 3.4 percent lower today before
trading was halted in Sydney and are up 10 percent this year.
CapitaLand shares were down 1.3 percent at S$3.06 before the
announcement.
GPT Group (GPT), Australia’s third-biggest diversified property
trust by market capitalization, in December offered to buy
Australand’s commercial and development units. The company
dropped its pursuit in May after failing to agree on a price
amid reports that rival Mirvac Group had also considered and
decided against a bid.
CapitaLand — which in January announced it was re-examining its stake in Australand amid a broader restructure of
the company — said at the end of the review that the Australian
company remained a “key investment,” without saying whether or
not it had abandoned plans for a sale.
Australand yesterday announced impairments on nine
residential and commercial development projects as at Dec. 31,
amid slow home sales in Queensland and subdued recovery in
office and industrial property demand. It also said it expected
operating profit after tax of A$148m in 2013, the upper end of
its previous guidance.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Nichola Saminather in Sydney at
nsaminather1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andreea Papuc at
apapuc1@bloomberg.net
Singapore"s CapitaLand to Sell a Third of Australand Stake (1)
0 comments:
Post a Comment