On July 3, The Edge Singapore highlighted that almost $500 million of loans that mature on July 18 had not been refinanced by Dasin Retail Trust. On July 5, Dasin’s trustee-manager announced that the trust “is currently still seeking to secure the refinancing of the Offshore Facilities and to that end is working to obtain the approvals for the refinancing from all the banks within the syndicate of lenders while contemplating other possible solutions, including applying for a further extension”. Of the $500 million, $419.5 million is offshore debt, and $80.1 million is onshore debt.
Through the manager, Dasin’s sponsor and major unitholder Zhang Zhencheng announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Sino-Ocean Capital Holding on July 5. A unit of Sino-Ocean Capital, Glory Class Ventures, currently holds approximately 6.36% of Dasin. Sino-Ocean Capital is also a long-time partner of the Sponsor and Zhang. “According to Mr. Zhang Zhencheng, the Sino-Ocean Capital Partnership will involve an acquisition by Sino-Ocean Capital, Glory Class or any affiliate designated by Sino-Ocean Capital of 70.0% of the total issued share capital in the Trustee-Manager from Mr. Zhang Zhencheng,” the SGX announcement says. In conjunction with the acquisition of the trustee-manager, Sino-Ocean Capital may also acquire units so that its stake is no less than 25% of Dasin.
See also: Dasin Retail Trust rebounds off new low, Keppel DC REIT oversold
However, in the same announcement, the transaction between Zhang and ARA Asset Management is off. ARA and Zhang had also signed a non-binding MOU with ARA taking a 50% stake in Dasin’s trustee-manager and up to 5% of its units.
Market watchers are mulling over this cryptic statement: “In addition, pursuant to the Sino-Ocean Capital Partnership, SinoOcean Capital will use its best endeavours and banking relationships to assist in the refinancing of the Offshore Facilities or the extension of the repayment date from the syndicate of lenders.”
Sino-Ocean is a big Chinese SOE, and a definite plus for Dasin vis-a-vis ARA. Can Dasin’s unit price recover to 70 cents from its current level of 58 cents? Its net asset value as at Dec 31, 2020 was $1.41. The local market’s experience with S-chips has not been positive, but SOEs are a different category altogether.
Separately, and unrelated to the ARA or Sino-Ocean transaction, and the refinancing, as at May 4, the trustee-manager has announced that Aqua-Wealth Holdings, owned by Zhang, has pledged 38 million Dasin Retail Trust units, or 4.87% at that date, to CGS-CIMB. The units are pledged for the financing of Aqua Wealth's trades in securities with or through CGS-CIMB.
