Poor tee-off for Accordia Golf Trust

ACCORDIA Golf Trust (AG Trust) sank as much 17.5 per cent to 80 Singapore cents yesterday in its trading debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

The counter, which was priced at 97 Singapore cents a unit in the initial public offering, opened trading at 87 Singapore cents at 2pm, and declined throughout the rest of the afternoon before recovering to close at 85 Singapore cents, still down 12.4 per cent. Some 64.3 million shares changed hands, making the trust the fourth most traded on the exchange. AG Trust offered some 70 per cent of its 782 million IPO units to investors in Japan. The public offer of about 41 million units in Singapore was 0.7 time subscribed.

The company turned to Singapore as a listing destination as business trusts are not traded in Japan, said Yoshihiko Machida, the trust management's CEO. AG Trust's entrance into the SGX is seen as diversifying the exchange's business and real estate trust offerings. The 97 Singapore cents issue price translates to an annual distribution yield of up to 9.1 per cent for the forecast year 2015, and normalised distribution yield (excluding non-recurring items) of up to 7 per cent. Tokyo-based Accordia Golf Co holds a 29 per cent stake in Accordia Golf Trust after listing.