SINGAPORE - Keppel Reit has priced a $200 million offering of five-year convertible bonds at the cheap end of price talk, suggesting tepid response to the deal.

The senior unsecured bonds will be sold at 100 per cent of par and bear a coupon of 1.90 per cent, which is the high end of the 1.70 per cent to 1.90 per cent range indicated during marketing, the commercial real estate investment trust (Reit) announced on Tuesday evening (April 2). The initial conversion premium of 12.5 per cent over Tuesday's closing price represents an initial conversion price of $1.4625, which is on the cheap end of the indicated range of $1.4625 to $1.5275.

Keppel has chosen not to upsize the deal by an additional $50 million.

New converted units, if the notes are fully converted, will represent about four per cent of Keppel Reit's current existing units.

Noteholders have a put option after three years to require early redemption of the bonds. After three years, Keppel Reit also has a call option to force early redemption of the bonds, subject to the common units trading at least 30 per cent over the prevailing conversion price.

Keppel Reit will use the proceeds from the offering either or both to refinance existing debt and to fund a potential acquisition, for which the trust is currently conducting due diligence. There is no assurance that the acquisition will proceed, however.

BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse (Singapore) were the joint lead managers and bookrunners for the deal.