Keppel Infrastructure Trust to raise S$525 million via equity deal

KEPPEL Infrastructure Fund Management (KIFM) will raise S$525 million through a private placement and a preferential offer to be conducted to fund the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Keppel Merlimau Cogen.

KIFM is the trustee-manager of Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT), which was formerly known as CitySpring Infrastructure Trust.

The private placement issue price has been fixed at S$0.52 per placement unit, which represents a discount of 6.15 per cent to the adjusted volume-weighted average price for trades on the full market day on May 19 and May 20 till that morning's trading halt. The private placement attracted robust interest from new and existing institutional investors and was more than twice subscribed.

To reward existing unitholders and enable them to participate in the trust's future growth, KIT will conduct a non-renounceable preferential offering. Existing unitholders will be able to subscribe to one new unit for every 13 units owned at 5pm on May 28 for S$0.515 per unit.

The equity deal is the largest to date in Singapore this year and represents about 36 per cent of KIT's outstanding units before the equity fund raising exercise, said KIFM.

Khor Un-Hun, chief executive of KIFM, said: "We are deeply encouraged by the strong investor interest in our equity fund raising. The increase in free float and institutional unitholder base will help KIT enhance the liquidity of its units and its ability to raise additional capital to finance future growth opportunities."