Reit managers should cut acquisition and divestment fees for property transactions, do right by investors

[SINGAPORE] Want to raise money easily? Be a listed real estate investment trust (Reit) with a large asset portfolio, ample trading liquidity, good institutional investor following, an established track record, a strong sponsor and a healthy market valuation.  

On Aug 5, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) launched a private placement of new units to raise not less than about S$500 million, largely to finance buying the remaining 55 per cent interest in the commercial component of CapitaSpring, which is located at Market Street in the Central Business District.

The book of orders closed on Aug 5, with CICT raising gross proceeds of about S$600 million through the issue of nearly 284.4 million new units at S$2.11 per unit. This represented a 2.5 per cent discount to the adjusted volume weighted average price of S$2.1637 for trades done on the Singapore Exchange on Aug 4. These new units have since been issued.