EC World Reit extends long stop date for divestment of two Chinese logistics assets
Paige Lim
THE manager of EC World Real Estate Investment Trust (EC World Reit) has announced an extension to the long stop date for the proposed divestment of two Chinese logistics assets to Feb 28 from Jan 31, 2023.
The extension is due to the purchasers being unable to complete the divestment by Jan 31 “as they are in the process of obtaining the relevant financing approvals from their lending banks in relation to their financing for the proposed divestment”, the manager said in a bourse filing on Monday (Jan 30).
The other rationale for the extension is that the deadline for the repayment of the remaining mandatory amount is now Feb 28 based on the repayment plan, it said.
“The sponsor demonstrated its support for EC World Reit by working closely together with the manager to engage the lenders and arrive at a repayment plan which the lenders are agreeable to, and by procuring the fulfilment of certain conditions under the repayment plan,” the manager said.
This includes placing the margin deposit in the escrow account of the onshore facility agent under the existing onshore bank loans, and by paying S$4.4 million to the lenders as partial repayment of the existing offshore bank loans.
In October last year, EC World Reit had announced that it would be divesting its indirect interests in Bei Gang Logistics and Chongxian Port Logistics for a total of 2.03 billion yuan (S$392.7 million). Part of the divestment proceeds would go towards repaying the Reit’s outstanding onshore and offshore loans.
It then announced in late November that the Covid-19 situation in China had caused delays in the lenders’ internal approval processes for the transaction financing. The purchasers were therefore unable to complete the transaction financing processes before the long-stop date of Nov 18.
Units of EC World Reit closed flat at S$0.45 on Monday before the announcement.
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