Singapore Press Holdings arm secures $354.93m loan

It will be used to partially repay its borrowings for its UK student accommodation acquisitions.

The trustee of Straits Capitol Trust (SCT) has entered into a facility agreement with Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Bank and Standard Chartered Bank for a four-year term loan facility of $354.93m (GBP205m), a filing with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) revealed.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) wholly owns Times Properties, which is the sole unitholder of SCT, of which Straits CM is the manager.

The loan will be secured, inter alia, by way of property mortgages against the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) portfolio comprising 20 assets in the UK, and a corporate guarantee from SPH.

The proceeds will be used to partially repay the existing loan from Times Properties to finance the acquisition costs of the UK PBSA portfolio, SPH said.

Also read: SPH's overseas assets to play a key role in boosting profits: analysts

In April, SPH’s wholly-owned subsidiaries Straits Five, Straits Six and Straits Eight, also acquired a portfolio of PBSA assets in the UK for a cash consideration of approximately $237m (GBP133.7m). The firm also bought 14 UK student accommodation buildings for $321m (GBP180.5m) in September 2018.