Chinese tycoon Tong Jinquan sells substantial stake in IReit Global to key unitholders Tikehau, CDL
Singapore
CHINESE tycoon Tong Jinquan has sold a substantial stake in IReit Global to the real estate investment trust's key unitholders and strategic partners, Tikehau Capital and City Developments (CDL), for S$64 million.
A Tuesday announcement said that French asset management and investment group Tikehau Capital has raised its stake to 29.2 per cent from 16.64 per cent, while Singapore-based developer CDL increased its stake to 20.87 per cent from 12.52 per cent in the Reit. This takes their aggregate shareholding to over 50 per cent. Following this transaction, Mr Tong's stake will be reduced to about 6 per cent.
The Business Timesreported on March 27 that Mr Tong offloaded 8.2 million IReit Global units for S$4 million from March 13 to March 23, effectively paring his stake from 34.4 per cent to 32.89 per cent.
Thereafter, from March 24 to April 3, Mr Tong further pared his stake from 32.89 per cent to 32.11 per cent, by selling about five million units at between S$0.45 and S$0.54 per unit.
BT understands that the latest transaction was a married deal. CDL paid about S$25.5 million for the units from Mr Tong, while Tikehau paid about 25 million euros (S$38.7 million).
The deal boosted IReit Global's unit price by S$0.10 or 19.2 per cent to S$0.62 on Tuesday, while CDL shares rose S$0.79 or 11.3 per cent to S$7.80.
Bruno de Pampelonne, chairman of Tikehau Investment Management and senior partner at Tikehau Capital, said the joint stake increase by Tikehau Capital and CDL reflects both parties' positive long-term view on IReit Global's growth prospects and strategy. It also demonstrates Tikehau's and CDL's alignment of interest with minority unitholders, he added. Both parties jointly own IReit Global's manager.
Meanwhile, AT Investments has emerged as a substantial shareholder in IReit after acquiring a 5.5 per cent stake from Mr Tong for S$17.2 million. The company is owned by India-born billionaire Arvind Tiku, whose family office has an asset portfolio worth some US$2 billion. AT Investments was also one of the cornerstone investors in the initial public offering of Prime US Reit last year.
Amid the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, IReit said that at the appropriate time, it plans to acquire the remaining 60 per cent stake in the Spanish portfolio that it partnered Tikehau and CDL to buy last December, and take full control of the portfolio.
Separately, disclosures filed to the Singapore Exchange showed Mr Tong selling more than 83 million units in ESR-Reit from March 23 to April 3 in a series of transactions for S$22.5 million in total. ESR-Reit units on Tuesday rose S$0.02 or 8.2 per cent to S$0.265, in line with a broader market recovery from last week's selldown.
