Blackstone $524.5M Buyout Offer For Singapore’s SoilBuild REIT

Asia’s real estate markets, Blackstone is teaming up with the family controlling the sponsor of a Singapore-listed REIT for a S$700.3 million ($524.5 million) offer to buy out the industrial real estate trust. Funds controlle

BY Realty Plus
Published - Wednesday, 16 Dec, 2020

Blackstone $524.5M Buyout Offer For Singapore’s SoilBuild REIT

Asia’s real estate markets, Blackstone is teaming up with the family controlling the sponsor of a Singapore-listed REIT for a S$700.3 million ($524.5 million) offer to buy out the industrial real estate trust. Funds controlled by Stephen Schwarzman’s private equity giant are making a joint offer with Soilbuild Group executive chairman Lim Chap Huat to purchase the units in Soilbuild Business Space REIT not controlled by Lim and his family. Soilbuild REIT owns 10 properties in Singapore and another three in Australia, with the manager of the trust presenting the buyout as a way to achieve value for unit-holders in a trust that has struggled to grow to a scale attractive to traders in the city’s fragmented industrial REIT market. Notwithstanding the board and management team’s efforts to maximize value for SB Unitholders over the years, the SB Unit price has implied a high yield and was further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, stated Chong Kie Cheong, chairman Soilbuild REIT’s manager. After considering the uncertainty of a global recovery and the merits of this proposed Trust Scheme, we believe it represents a credible offer in the face of challenging market conditions and would like to present it to SB Unitholders for their consideration.