Dasin Retail Trust extends maturity date for loans due on Saturday

MAINBOARD-LISTED Dasin Retail Trust has extended the maturity date for a tranche of offshore term loans, in a supplemental agreement inked and announced by the manager on Friday.

The loans - representing a combined S$106.6 million and US$52.4 million - was originally due to mature on Saturday. This date has now been pushed back by two years, to Jan 19, 2021.

This tranche is part of Dasin Retail Trust's offshore syndicated term loan facilities, the sum of which clocked in at the equivalent of S$430 million. Out of this amount, a combined S$242 million and US$134.3 million was drawn down in 2017.

With the extension, the loans' weighted average term to maturity has now been doubled, to 1.6 years. And both the interest margin and annual all-in interest cost on the loan tranche have been lowered, the manager noted.

Besides that, there have been no material changes to the terms of the offshore facilities, it added.

Li Wen, chief executive of the manager, said in a statement: "Given the rising interest rate environment, we are pleased to successfully extend the first tranche of the offshore facilities at a reduced interest rate margin as compared to the original loans."

He added that the extension "is an indication of our prudent capital management strategy enabling a healthy capital structure for the trust".

Dasin Retail Trust holds four malls in Zhongshan city, in China's Guangdong province. Its gearing is now  32.5 per cent, based on gross borrowings divided by assets as at Sept 30, 2018.