First Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) has raised $3.4 million by issuing 3.38 million new units at $1.0163 apiece to unitholders.

This is part of its distribution reinvestment plan, which gives unitholders the option to receive distributions in the form of new units rather than in cash.

The Reit's manager, Bowsprit Capital Corporation, said in a statement on Wednesday that $3.3 million of the proceeds will be used to repay part of the Reit's existing loans.

The new units started trading on the Singapore Exchange mainboard at 9am on Monday, Mar 3. Distribution payments to unitholders who did not choose to participate in the distribution reinvestment plan have been paid in cash on Feb 28.

First Reit now has 711.6 million units in issue, up from 708.2 million previously.