Adapting to the market's 'new normal'

IT HAS to be said that Manulife US Reit's debut on Friday which saw it trade below its US$0.83 offer price for the whole day before closing at US$0.79 was disappointing but not wholly unexpected.

Not because the offer was unattractive or was badly priced; in fact it was quite the opposite - by any measure, an instrument offering a yield of 7 per cent in today's zero interest rate environment is a rarity and should be viewed as attractive, especially one which comes with a strong brand name.

Logically, it should therefore have posted a stronger debut than it did; instead, it didn't and even though it didn't, very few observers expressed surprise at the counter's weak showing.