CapitaMall Asia proposes secondary listing in Hong Kong

CMA plans to double the number of malls in China to 100 in three-five year.  

According to DBS, CMA aims to enhance its research coverage, profile and liquidity, and establish additional avenues of financing. There will not be an issue of new shares and shares listed on the HK Exchange will be fungible. Listing currency will be in HK$. However, no detail has been provided in terms of the amount of shares to be transferred over for the HK listing. An EGM will be convened on 21 Apr to seek shareholders’ approval for the transaction. 

DBS believes this is a positive move as it will broaden the company’s future fund raising spectrum by establishing new platforms of financing. Apart from Singapore and Malaysia, China remains a key growth market and currently accounts for approximately 37% and 70% of CMA’s portfolio property value and GFA respectively. About 38% of its China portfolio is operational and the remaining is expected to complete over the next few years. 

Whilst dual listing exercises in the past 15 months showed mixed share price performances post- announcement, they believe that this secondary listing would be well-received and could narrow the valuation gap between CMA, at 1.2xP/BV and its nearest peer Hang Lung Properties at 1.3x P/BV in the medium term. They continue to see CMA as a major player in the retail real estate niche that offers leverage into the Pan Asian consumption growth story. Key risk to DBS's view lies in a longer than expected operational ramp up of its malls and slow deployment of its balance sheet capacity into new investments.