Singapore REIT Mapletree Commercial Trust adds cash-only option to $3 bln merger

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust

21/03/2022 01:38

March 21 (Reuters) - Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust's
 MAPE.SI  unitholders will now have an option to receive
consideration in cash from a proposed S$4.2 billion ($3.10
billion) merger with Mapletree Commercial Trust  MACT.SI , the
Temasek-linked Singapore real estate investment trusts said on
Monday.
    Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) had announced plans in
December to buy Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT),
seeking to create the seventh largest real estate investment
trust (REIT) in Asia with an expected market value of about
S$10.5 billion.
    The two REITs said in a joint statement on Monday that MNACT
unitholders would now have the option to choose consideration in
cash, in addition to the prior offer for MCT units or a
combination of both cash and MCT units.
    The value of the merger remained unchanged at S$1.1949 per
MNACT unit, they said. However, the inclusion of the cash option
will result in an additional cash requirement of up to S$2.2
billion, which will be funded through a preferential offering to
MCT unitholders at an issue price of S$2.0039 per MCT Unit.
    Last month, Reuters had reported that activist investor
Quarz Capital Management was opposed to the terms of the
proposed merger, saying MNACT was significantly undervalued.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UL11E
    Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, the global real estate
conglomerate owned by Singapore state investor Temasek, is the
single largest unitholder in both the trusts, owning 32.6% of
MCT and 38.1% of MNACT, as of Dec. 29.    

($1 = 1.3553 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Indranil.Sarkar@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile:  +91
7022132226;))