Centurion prices Hong Kong IPO shares at HK$3.18; deal 4.1 times subscribed

DORMITORY developer Centurion Corp has priced its secondary-listing offer in Hong Kong at HK$3.18 per share, near the mid-point of price talk between HK$3 and HK$3.30.

The 36-million-share offering was 4.1 times subscribed, based on applications for 112.5 million public offer shares and 35.2 million placement shares, the Singapore mainboard-listed company said on Monday before the market opened.

In response to demand for the public offer shares, Centurion has increased its public tranche to 10.8 million shares from six million shares, while reducing its placement tranche to 25.2 million shares from 30 million shares.

The offering raised about HK$69.7 milion (S$12.08 million) in net proceeds. The company will use HK$62.7 million to partly fund an expected A$45.5 million (S$46.2 million) development of new student accommodation in Adelaide, Australia, the company said. The rest of the development costs will be financed by internal funds and bank borrowings. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The remaining HK$7 million in net proceeds will be used as general working capital.

Wong Kok Hoe, chairman of the board and non-executive director of Centurion said: "We are pleased with the positive responses from both the institutional and retail investors during the share offer, reflecting investors' confidence in our business model, quality of our assets and management, and development prospects."

"Looking ahead, we will continue to selectively explore opportunities to grow our accommodation business through targeted and strategic expansion in existing and new markets, joint ventures and asset light strategies, including establishing and providing investment, asset and property management services."

Trading of Centurion shares in Hong Kong will start at 9.30am on Dec 12.

Centurion shares finished S$0.025 or 4.5 per cent higher at S$0.58 on Monday.