Property giant CapitaLand is proposing a scrip dividend scheme which will enable shareholders to opt for receiving all or part of their cash dividends in the form of new shares.
Shareholders who opt for the scheme can participate in the company's shares without incurring brokerage fees, stamp duty and other related costs, it said in a regulatory filing yesterday morning.
For the company, the cash used to pay out the dividends can be retained to fund the group's growth and expansion while strengthening its working capital position. The new share issue will also enlarge the company's share capital base.
To facilitate the scheme's implementation, CapitaLand is proposing that its existing Constitution be amended to include a new article.
This will be set out in a letter to shareholders that was to be issued yesterday, together with the company's notice of its annual general meeting, where shareholder approval for the change will be sought.
Also yesterday, CapitaLand said it has opened a star feature at its Raffles City Chongqing tower in China - a glass-bottom exploration deck viewing gallery which, at 250m off the ground, is the highest of its kind in western China, it said.
The attraction, opened to the public last weekend, offers a 270-degree panorama of Chongqing city's skyline, with "views of Yangtze River's brown merging with Jialing River's blue", the company said.
As part of crowd management, only 3,000 tickets are available daily. Almost all the available tickets in the opening weekend were snapped up, said CapitaLand.
Raffles City Chongqing is the group's single largest development in China, taking seven years to build and involving an investment of $4.8 billion.
The development spans 1.12 million sq m and comprises a 235,000 sq m shopping mall, 150,000 sq m of Grade A office space, about 1,400 residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing hotel. The mall saw over 900,000 shoppers in its opening weekend last September.
Visitors to the Exploration Deck begin their journey with an exploration-themed exhibition in collaboration with National Geographic at Level 1. An express elevator takes visitors up 47 floors in 52 seconds.
The deck is part of The Crystal, an enclosed sky bridge that is connected to six of Raffles City Chong-qing's eight skyscrapers - four 250m-tall skyscrapers at its base and two towers by cantilever bridges.
Apart from the Exploration Deck, The Crystal houses The Private Club, a members-only clubhouse with two swimming pools, restaurants and bars at the sky garden, which is targeted to open in the third quarter of this year.
CapitaLand group China president Lucas Loh said: "The Exploration Deck is the first major attraction to launch in Chongqing since the lifting of the country's nationwide lockdown, and the public's enthusiastic response is yet another encouraging sign of recovery in consumer sentiment."
The group said in April that it had reopened its malls in China previously shut due to the lockdown.
