Singapore Press Holdings is considering the launch of a new REIT comprising its UK student accommodation assets in its native market, as a potential route for further investment in its portfolio.
Hwee Song Chua, chief financial officer and lead executive for PBSA at SPH, told EG that the idea was to more than double the value of the existing portfolio to around S$1.5bn (£860m) at a “disciplined pace”, before deciding whether to spin it off as a REIT.
The media organisation has spent some S$600m on UK purpose-built student accommodation in the past eight months. “We are building a very stable student accommodation portfolio that we think is REIT-able in Singapore,” Chua said.
“We are quite selective with our assets, but on a disciplined basis – and at the right pace – we will try to gear up to S$1.5bn and hope to take it to IPO. Beyond that, once you step into the capital markets, we will continue to invest.”
However, Chua emphasised that any decision to list would heavily depend on favourable macroeconomics, and whether the company would be in the right part of the yield cycle.
See also: Singapore Press Holdings outlines UK PBSA strategy
In the meantime, the focus remains on a “steady pace” of investment to grow the portfolio.
The company’s most recent acquisitions include a £133.7m trio of assets in Southampton, Sheffield and Leeds, from a group led by AIG Global Real Estate on behalf of its Europe Real Estate Fund I GP, in April.
It also bought St Marks in Lincoln in February and Clifton House and Stewart House in Glasgow, in March.
One of SPH’s units secured a four-year, £205m facility from OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore against the properties earlier this month, the proceeds from which will be used to partially repay existing loans to finance the acquisition costs.
In the meantime, the media company is no stranger to capital markets – it currently owns 70% of domestically-listed SPH REIT, largely consisting of retail malls in Singapore.
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