Singapore's City Developments to raise US$1.1b from Blackstone, CIMB

[HONG KONG] Singapore's second-largest property developer City Developments Ltd said on Tuesday it plans to raise about US$1.1 billion from a group of investors and banks including Blackstone Group LP to fund global expansion.

The company will raise S$750 million (US$572 million) from three investors including Blackstone and another S$750 million in loans from Singapore's top two lenders, DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.

City Developments plans to use the funds to "build and deploy capital for our global plans", Executive Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a securities filing, without elaborating.

The company will launch a so-called "profit participating security" giving the investors fixed returns of 5 per cent a year for five years plus rights to the cashflow of its Quayside Collection of properties in Singapore's Sentosa island.

Blackstone will invest S$367 million in the security, CIMB Bank S$102 million and City Developments' Astoria Holdings Ltd unit putting another S$281 million.

REUTERS