Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are hugely popular investments in Singapore. The reasons for this lie in two key characteristics – 1) its focus on property investments, which Singaporeans just cannot get enough of, and 2) its ability to pay a good annual distribution yield of typically between 5% and 8%. It should come as no surprise that when a new $1.5 billion REIT initial public offering (IPO) is announced, there will be plenty of interest. To guide you in your assessment of whether to invest in Lendlease Global Commercial REIT’s IPO, here are 10 things you should know. # 1 What Is Lendlease Global Commercial REIT? Lendlease Global Commercial REIT will own properties primarily in the retail and/or office space. The initial REIT portfolio comprises two properties – 313@So

In the first eight months of 2019, Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index (STI), comprising the 30 largest and most liquid stocks listed in Singapore, delivered a total return of 4.8%. During this period, Singapore’s 30 most actively traded stocks in the first eight months delivered a total return of 11.5%, or more than double the STI. The top 30 most actively traded stocks comprised 24 stocks from the STI, and six additional stocks: Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) Suntec REIT Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) AEM Holdings Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT) The six STI stocks that were not part of the top 30 most actively traded stocks, included: UOL Group SATS Sembcorp Industries Golden Agri-Resources Dairy Farm International Holdings

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (SGX: NS8U) will be booted out of the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), Singapore’s stock market bellwether. Instead, Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), owner of Singapore’s largest shopping mall VivoCity, will take its place. The changes will be applied after the market close on Friday, 20 September 2019 and will be effective come Monday, 23 September 2019. The index’s co-creators – Singapore Press Holdings Limited, Singapore Exchange Limited, and FTSE Russell – made the announcement yesterday after the stock market closed. The shuffling is part of the September quarterly review of the Straits Times Index (STI). Differing fortunes   Hutchison Port Holdings Trust has not been performing well financially over the pa

As one of the most popular investments in Singapore, we keep a close eye on the performance of S-REITs. After the corporate earnings announcements each quarter, we compile a comprehensive summary on our REITs Report Card column. How Singapore REITs Share Prices Have Fared In 2019, So Far Before we look at how individual REIT prices have moved, let’s look at the broad S-REIT indices in Singapore. There are two main indices – the iEdge S-REIT Index and the iEdge S-REIT 20 Index. The iEdge S-REIT Index comprises all the REITs listed in Singapore, while the iEdge S-REIT 20 Index, as its name suggests, only comprise the 20 largest and more tradeable REITs on the iEdge S-REIT Index. Read Also: Complete Guide To Investing In Singapore REITs The chart below depicts the iEdge S-REIT Index fluc

This week's instalment takes a look at how the Hong Kong protests have hit investor sentiment for Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (SGX: RW0U).

First published in Business Times on 2 August, 2019 By Mak Yuen Teen and Chew Yi Hong The third edition of the Governance Index for Trusts (GIFT) assesses the governance and business risk of 46 real estate investment trusts (Reits) and business trusts (BTs) listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Four trusts are new to GIFT in the 2019 edition, having more than a year of listing status to allow us to assess them meaningfully. They are Cromwell European Reit, Keppel-KBS US Reit, NetLink NBN Trust and Sasseur Reit. The trusts that are ranked in the top five in GIFT 2019 are NetLink NBN Trust, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Keppel DC Reit, AIMS APAC Reit and Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (joint fourth). The average combined governance and business risk score has continued to improve s

By Mak Yuen Teen NetLink NBN Trust, one of the four new trusts included in the third edition of the Governance Index for Trusts (GIFT), has achieved the top ranking in its first year. This year, the governance and business risk of 46 out of the 50 real estate investment trusts (REITs) and business trusts (BTs) listed on SGX were assessed. Four trusts are new to GIFT in the 2019 edition, the other three being Cromwell European REIT, Keppel-KBS US REIT and Sasseur REIT. In general, the new trusts have fared well, with Keppel-KBS US REIT ranked joint sixth. The trusts that are ranked in the top 5 in GIFT 2019 are Netlink NBN Trust, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Keppel DC REIT, AIMS APAC REIT and Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (joint fourth). The average combined governance and business r

Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) is a REIT that owns nine commercial properties in China, Hong Kong, and Japan. As of 31 March 2019, MNACT’s portfolio of properties was valued S$7.6 billion. The ongoing protests in Hong Kong have made headline news around the world recently and I was interested to learn more about the REIT and how the protests would affect its business in Hong Kong. Here are 10 things I learned from the 2019 Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust AGM: 1. Gross revenue grew 15.1% year-on-year to S$408.7 million and net property income grew 14.6% YoY to S$240.7 million. This was contributed by the acquisition of a portfolio of Japanese properties in May 2018 and higher rental income from Festival Walk, Gateway Plaza, and Sandhill Plaza.  So