Mapletree Industrial Trust raises S$410m from upsized placement at top end of price range

THE manager of Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) on Wednesday said its upsized private placement was 8.2 times covered at an issue price of S$2.80 - the top end of its issue price range of S$2.732 to S$2.80.

Closing one day after launching on June 23, the exercise, whose upsize option was fully taken, will issue about 146.4 million new units, netting the real estate investment trust (Reit) gross proceeds of about S$410 million.

Demand came from "a broad spectrum of investors, including new and existing institutional investors", the manager said in a regulatory filing.

The issue price represents a 1.6 per cent discount to MIT's adjusted volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of S$2.8456 per unit, and a 2.6 per cent discount to MIT's VWAP of S$2.8745 per unit for trades done on June 22 before the exercise launch.

MIT on Tuesday proposed to issue about 128.1 million new units to raise at least S$350 million, and an upsize option to issue up to 18.3 million new units to raise at least S$50 million.

It intends to use about S$302.6 million, or 73.8 per cent of the gross proceeds, to fully fund the proposed acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in 14 data centres in the US.

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Another S$100.9 million, or 24.6 per cent of the gross proceeds, will be used to to repay MIT's debt, fund future acquisitions and/or for general corporate and/or working capital purposes. The remainder will go towards paying estimated fees and expenses related to the private placement.

The proposed acquisition of the 60 per cent stake in the US data centres is subject to the approval of unitholders at an extraordinary general meeting to be convened. If MIT does not proceed with the proposed acquisition, proceeds from the placement shall be redeployed to fund ongoing as well as future investments and/or to pare debt, the manager said.

The manager will make an application to the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST) for the listing of the new units on the mainboard of the SGX-ST. New units in MIT are expected to be issued on or around July 2, and commence trading on the Singapore bourse at 9am on or around that date.

In connection with the private placement, the manager intends to declare a cumulative distribution for the period from April 1 to the date immediately before the date on which the new units are issued. Holders of new units from the placement will not be entitled to this cumulative distribution, which is being proposed as a means to ensure fairness to holders of existing MIT units, the manager said.

The next distribution following the cumulative distribution will comprise MIT's distributable income for the period from the new units' issue date to Sept 30, 2020. Quarterly distributions will resume thereafter.

Citigroup Global Markets Singapore, DBS Bank, and HSBC Singapore branch were the joint bookrunners and underwriters for this placement.

MIT on Wednesday morning requested the lifting of its trading halt, following this announcement. Units in MIT, which began trading as part of the benchmark Straits Times Index on Monday, closed at S$2.84 on that day. The counter was trading at S$2.92 on a cum-dividend basis as at 10.55am on Wednesday, up S$0.08 or 2.8 per cent.