Dasin Retail Trust mulls selling retail malls among options in debt restructuring
Daphne Yow
THE trustee-manager of Dasin Retail Trust (DRT) is considering selling the trust’s retail malls as it looks to restructure its loan maturities.
Another possible option is engaging its financial adviser FTI Consulting (Singapore) as well as JLL or any other parties to search for potential strategic investors, the trustee-manager said in its response to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
If the China-focused property trust opts for the disposal, it will aim to do so within a 24-month timeframe in an “orderly and structured manner”. The trustee-manager said it will continue to negotiate the terms of the debt restructuring with its lenders together with FTI.
SGX had queried the trust’s management on Jul 6 after the company announced that talks with a “reputable Chinese entity” for a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) fell through.
The term sheet sought by DRT’s lenders had provided for the entry into the MOU to be a precedent condition. This means if the MOU did not come to fruition, further negotiations with the lenders would occur.
The lenders had also requested for the board to review the conduct of the trustee-manager’s chief executive Wang Qiu. They had flagged concerns on whether Wang was acting in the interest of all stakeholders, including the lenders, and if conflicts of interests are being managed appropriately.
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This came after Wang and Zhang Zhongming, a representative of the trust’s major unitholder, attended a meeting on May 26 in which lenders were informed of the intention to discontinue FTI’s services.
SGX in its query had asked the board to explain the basis for the lenders’ concerns over Wang. It also asked the board to disclose the outcome of such a review.
The board said that Wang has since clarified that she only received a request from Zhang to call for the meeting with all lenders, and that she did not make any remarks at the meeting. It added that the trustee-manager will engage the lenders to ascertain and understand their concerns, before assessing further actions.
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DRT’s portfolio includes retail malls in China, such as Ocean Metro Mall in Zhongshan.
Units of DRT were trading at S$0.097 on Tuesday (Jul 11), down S$0.023 or 19.17 per cent.
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