Citi Research analyst Brandon Lee is keeping “buy” on Mapletree Logistics Trust M44U (MLT) with a target price of $1.58 following the announcement that the trust has proposed sale of Mapletree Xi’an Logistics Park (MXLP).
On June 12, the manager of the REIT said MLT has entered into an equity purchase agreement with an unrelated third-party buyer to divest its 100% stake in MXLP for RMB70.5 million ($13.1 million), a 0.7% premium to its FY2024 valuation of RMB70 million but 21.7% discount to the purchase price of RMB90 million in May 2007.
Located at Xi’an Economic & Technological Development Zone in Weiyang District, MXLP is a 50-year-leasehold, 20-year-old warehouse with net lettable area of 22,876 sqm and FY2023 occupancy of 78%. It contributed 0.1% to the trust’s FY2023 revenue and 0.1% to FY2024 assets under management (AUM).
Lee points out that the transaction represents MLT’s first divestment of an asset in China since December 2019. While the amount is small, it signifies MLT's ongoing proactive portfolio reconstitution strategy and provides support to its existing asset valuations in China with an above-valuation exit, he adds.
“More importantly, a lower China AUM exposure, albeit marginal, could help assuage part of investors' concerns over subdued operational performance in China. Post this divestment and other earlier-announced acquisitions and divestments, we estimate gearing of 39.1%,” says Lee.
As at 10.58am, units in MLT are trading 1 cent higher or 0.76% up at $1.33.
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