Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Former CapitaLand chief plans S$1b property trust IPO

SINGAPORE: Perennial Real Estate, a firm set up by former CapitaLand retail chief Pua Seck Guan, has hired Goldman Sachs, DBS and Standard Chartered to help it raise as much as S$1 billion (RM2.38 billion) in a property trust initial public offering (IPO), sources with knowledge of the deal said yesterday.

Perennial intends to list a business trust in Singapore that will comprise mostly shopping malls in China, said the sources, who declined to be named because the matter has not been made public.

Pre-marketing of the deal is scheduled to begin later this month with the formal launch of the IPO slated for the end of March, the sources added.

A spokeswoman for Perennial, which is involved in the development and management of malls as well as property funds, said the firm has businesses in China, India and Singapore and it "continues to explore opportunties in these markets".

The three banks either declined comment or could not be reached.

By Reuters