Singapore's OUE Commercial to buy OUE Hospitality for $1 bln

OUE Real Estate Investment Trust

08/04/2019 04:25

April 8 (Reuters) - OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment
Trust  OUEC.SI  said on Monday it would buy OUE Hospitality
Trust  OUER.SI  in a cash-and-stock deal worth S$1.37 billion
($1.01 billion), creating one of Singapore's largest REITs.
    Under the deal, OUE Commercial will issue 1.3583 new shares
for every OUE Hospitality share, and pay S$0.04075 per share in
cash. The total deal value is a premium of 1.6 percent to OUE
Hospitality's last close.
    The combined REIT will have total assets of about S$6.8
billion and will trade under OUE Commercial on the Singapore
Exchange, the companies said in a joint statement.
    The deal will "significantly enhance our visibility within
the S-REITs universe and increase our relevance to a wider
investor base," said Tan Shu Lin, chief executive officer of OUE
Commercial REIT Management Pte Ltd, the manager for OUE
Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust.
    The manager owns a 4.79 percent stake in OUE Commercial Real
Estate Investment Trust, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
    The deal follows a wave of mergers in Singapore's crowded
mid-cap real estate investment trusts, that just about a year
ago saw ESR-REIT  ESRR.SI  buying rival Viva Industrial Trust in
a deal valued at S$936.7 million.
    OUE Group, which refers to OUE Ltd  OVES.SI  and its related
corporations, will have a 48.3 percent stake in the combined
company, the statement said.
    OUE Ltd currently owns a 32 percent stake in OUE Hospitality
Trust, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
    Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp
are the financial advisers to OUE Commercial, while BofA Merrill
Lynch is advising OUE Hospitality.
 ($1 = 1.3554 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; +91 806 749 1637;
Reuters Messaging:
nikhilkurian.nainan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))