Nan Fung raises Forterra Trust bid to S$2.25 per unit (Amended)

Singapore

NAN FUNG International Holdings, one of Hong Kong's largest privately owned property developers, has raised its offer price for Forterra Trust to S$2.25 per unit from S$1.85.

The higher bid price for the Singapore mainboard-listed commercial real estate developer in China was announced on Monday morning after Nan Fung acquired about 53.89 million units at S$2.25 apiece which took Nan Fung's stake to 51.76 per cent of the total number of issued units and 51.26 per cent of the maximum potential total units in Forterra.

The respective stakes grew to 56.73 per cent and 56.18 per cent by 5pm on Monday. In a late night announcement, Nan Fung said that the total units acquired through market purchases and married trades on Monday was about 66.68 million units at prices of S$1.86 to S$2.25.

The general offer became unconditional when the married trades on Monday took Nan Fung's stake to above 50 per cent of the maximum potential total units.

Nan Fung, which is making the bid through indirectly wholly owned New Precise Holdings, said the new price of S$2.25 is a final offer. The closing date of the offer has also been extended to 5.30pm (Singapore time) on Jan 5 from Dec 18. The new offer price represents a 32.4 per cent premium over the closing price of S$1.70 on Nov 3, the last market date prior to the date of announcing its mandatory conditional cash offer, and a 50.6 per cent premium over the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of S$1.494 of the units for the one month up to Nov 3.

Nan Fung reiterated that it does not have any present intention to actively pursue the delisting of Forterra. But if the offer ends with the public float falling below 10 per cent and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) suspends trading as a result, Nan Fung does not intend to take any steps to maintain Forterra's listing.

And in such an event, which means Nan Fung has a stake of more than 90 per cent, the offeror intends to exercise its right of compulsory acquisition of units held by unitholders who have not accepted its its offer.

Formerly known as Treasury China Trust, Forterra made its initial foray into the Chinese market in 2005 and listed on the SGX in June 2010. Its portfolio today consists of four office and retail properties in Shanghai and Qingdao. In July 2013, Forterra's board had told BT: "Nan Fung considers Forterra Trust to be a real estate investment vehicle through which it can gain further exposure to the China commercial real estate sector."hhhh

On Monday, Forterra Trust units closed trading at S$2.25, up 39 cents or 21 per cent, after trading between S$1.86 and S$2.27. An immediate trading halt at about 9.37am on Monday was lifted at 11.15am.

The story above is the correct version.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Forterra Trust has six commercial properties in Shanghai, Qingdao and Bejing, but in fact it presently has four commercial properties in Shanghai and Qingdao, after completing its projects in Beijing. The above article has been amended to reflect this.