BHG Retail REIT ends SGX’s IPO drought with $394.2m public offering

It’s offering units at $0.80 each.

China retail operator BHG Retail REIT launched an initial public offering of units at an offering price of $0.80 per unit yesterday, 2 December, according to a media release by the company.

It has an initial portfolio comprising of five retail properties in China valued at approximately $605.9m, or about RMB2.8b as at 30 June 2015. The portfolio has an aggregate floor area of 263,688 sq m.

The offering of 151,169,000 units consists of a placement tranche and a public offer. The former will comprise of a maximum of 143,169,000 units to be offered through an international placement to investors including institutional and other investors in Singapore, while the latter will be no less than 8,000,000 units offered to the Singapore public.

Separate from the offering, Beijing Hua Lian Group International Trading and Beijing Hualian Department Store entered into separate agreements to subscribe for 148,310,300 units and 24,636,300 units respectively at the offering price.

Concurrently but separate from the offering, BHG Retail REIT also nabbed $134.9m worth of commitments from cornerstone investors Reignwood Group and Red Bull Group China Board Chairman Dr Chanchai Ruayrungruang, China Life Insurance Company, China Merchants Bank Asset Management, and China Hi-Tech Holding Company.

Overall, the company intends to raise gross proceeds of $394.2m.

This follows the registration of its final prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore in connection with the proposed listing of BHG Retail REIT on the Main Board of SGX-ST.

The public offer opened at 9 PM on 2 December 2015 and will close at 12 NN on 7 December 2015. Listing and trading of BHG Retail REIT on the SGX-ST is expected to start at 2 PM on 11 December 2015.