OUE H-Trust completes refinancing of its outstanding debts ahead of maturity

OUE Hospitality Trust (OUE H-Trust) announced on Tuesday that it has drawn down on the term loan facilities and completed the refinancing of its total outstanding debts of S$859 million ahead of their maturity.

This comes after OUE H-Trust entered into a facility agreement with BNP Paribas on Dec 13 for the grant of two term loan facilities and two revolving loan facilities totalling S$980 million.

The stapled group, which comprises OUE Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (OUE Reit) and OUE Hospitality Business Trust, had entered into the loan agreements through OUE Reit's trustee, RBC Investor Services Trust.

"Prior to the refinancing, S$294 million was due in July 2018, S$270 million was due in July 2019 and S$295 million was due in January 2020," the group said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange after the market closed.

With the refinancing, the stapled group has no loans due until December 2020.

Chong Kee Hiong, CEO of OUE H-Trust's manager said: "We have refinanced OUE H-Trust's existing loans well ahead of their maturity to strengthen our debt profile in an environment of rising interest rates."

"Following the refinancing, more than 70 per cent of OUE H-Trust's interest is fixed via interest rate swaps (IRS) and the weighted average maturity tenure of OUE H-Trust's IRS has been extended from about 1.3 years to over 3.7 years as at Dec 19, 2017."

Moreover, this leaves OUE H-Trust's average cost of debt at about 2.4 per cent, compared to 2.8 per cent for the third quarter of its current financial year ending Dec 31.

OUE H-Trust shares closed S$0.005 or 0.6 per cent up at S$0.84 on Tuesday.