INTERNATIONAL Healthway Corp (IHC) said on Wednesday that a sale and purchase agreement to sell two of its office properties in Melbourne to a third-party buyer has been terminated at the request of the buyer.

These properties are: a seven-storey office building with net leasable area of 10,710 square metres at 553 St Kilda Road and an eight-storey office building with net leasable area of 8,229 square metres at 541 St Kilda Road.

The group has decided that it will retain these properties in order to start a private Reit with a larger portfolio of assets. It has been planning to form the private Reit in Australia, which the group's other Australian property at 73-79 Little Ryle Street, Geelong is already designated to be a part of.

The proposed vehicle for the private Reit would be IHC Healthcare Reit, a Singapore-domiciled trust that can become a publicly listed Reit when a suitable size is achieved.

On Wednesday, IHC also requested for a trading suspension on its shares to allow it time to revise the terms and conditions of the implementation agreement that spells out how its proposed scheme of arrangement should pan out. Under the scheme, IHC will buy all the shares of Healthway Medical Corporation at S$0.10 apiece via the issuance of new IHC shares at S$0.45 apiece.