Prime US REIT makes trading debut on SGX-ST

It launched the largest IPO YTD by market capitalisation.

Prime US Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) commenced trading on the main board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST), offering investors the opportunity to invest in a $1.66b (US$1.22b) portfolio of 11 class A office buildings across nine US office markets, an announcement revealed.

Prime closed at $1.20 (US$0.88) per unit, and a total of 10.72 million units were traded on 19 July.

Also read: REITs eyed to boost Singapore's IPO landscape

The trust is SGX’s third pure-play US office REIT, joining Manulife US REIT and Keppel-KBS REIT. With its listing, SGX lists a total of five US-focused trusts that have a combined market cap of over $5b. The existing four US-focused trusts have an average price-to-net asset value ratio of 0.97x, and an average dividend yield of 7.4%.

Prime US REIT launched its initial public offering (IPO) in early July to raise $1.1b, which is said to be the largest IPO on the SGX-ST YTD by market cap. The IPO offered 335.2 million units comprising 294.29 million units offered to investors outside the US, and 40.91 million to the public in Singapore. The offering was overall 1.2 times subscribed, the firm said.

Also read: Prime US REIT launches IPO to raise $1.1b

Prime revealed that it has secured commitments from nine cornerstone investors who have subscribed for 360.25 million units, representing a 39% stake in Prime.

Similarly, KBS Real Estate Investment Trust III, which has sold the initial portfolio to Prime, has made an indirect investment through KBS REIT Properties III LLC of an aggregate of 307.95 million units into Prime. This represents approximately 33.3% stake in Prime.