On the morning of June 22, brokers reported that 50 million units of Dasin Retail Trust changed hands at 34.5 cents, a significant 7.8% premium over its unit price of 32 cents as at June 21. On Monday June 20, Dasin Retail Trust closed at 30 cents. The trust has 794 million units in issue, so the 50 million tranche represents almost 6.3% of outstanding units.
On June 20, Dasin’s manager announced that it managed to extend a $499.52 million loan that matured on June 19, to Dec 31, 2022. The loan is a combination of onshore and offshore facilities for Xiaolan Metro Mall, Ocean Metro Mall and Dasin E-Colour (the IPO portfolio) and Shiqi Metro Mall.
“The Trustee-Manager has been working closely with the Lenders for the refinancing exercise and exploring potential proposals including but not limited to the disposal of the certain trust assets, partnership with strategic investors, and alternative fund raising activities. The Trustee-Manager hopes to see a successful conclusion to the refinancing exercise soon,” Dasin’s manager said.
In March this year, Dasin’s manager said it is in talks to divest Shiqi Metro Mall and Xiaolan Metro Mall to an entity linked to one of the trust’s substantial shareholders. The two malls, last valued at RMB4.8 billion, account for 42.8% of total assets by value. Both malls are located Zhongshan of China’s Guangdong province. The potential buyer Wuhu Yuanche Bisheng Investment Center, is described by Dasin’s manager as a buyout fund with institutional and private investors. The potential buyer will be managed jointly by GSUM Real Estate Fund Management Co and a subsidiary of Sino-Ocean Capital Holding, which in turn is a substantial unitholder of Dasin Retail Trust via its affiliate, Glory Class Ventures, which holds a stake of around 11.99% as at May 4.
On June 3, an SGX filing showed Harvest Private Wealth Thematic Fund increased its stake to 8.45% on June 2.
Dasin Retail Trust is a business trust styled with similar frameworks as a REIT. It pays out 90% of its distributable income, and keeps its aggregate leverage below 50% if interest coverage ratio (ICR) is above 2.5%, and below 45% if ICR is below 2.5%.
See also: Changes in ICR, leverage to come into effect immediately, with additional disclosures in March
Based on its historical distribution per unit of 5.22 cents paid in FY2021, and NAV of $1.41, the buyer of the 50 million block is getting a yield of 16%, and paying just 0.25 times NAV.
