Capital raisings: Pain or gain?

CAPITAL raisings are often a point of controversy for minority shareholders, especially when they result in trimmed distributions for them at the end of the reporting period.

So it was not surprising that the topic of Ascott Reit's one-for-five rights issue late last year, which raised S$254 million mainly for acquisitions, surfaced again at its results briefing on Monday last week when the company had to explain its lower payout for the quarter.

Its distribution per unit (DPU) fell 11 per cent to 2.19 Singapore cents, down from 2.45 Singapore cents a year ago, bringing its first-half DPU to 3.94 Singapore cents.