Indian property firm looking to list Reit in Singapore

IndoSpace, an Indian industrial property developer backed by Everstone Group and Realterm Global, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) of a real estate investment trust (Reit) in Singapore, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The developer is in discussion with investment banks, the people said, asking not to be identified as discussions are private.

The IPO could take place as early as next year, they said.

IndoSpace, with tenants including Nissan Motor and Procter & Gamble, raised US$330 million (S$470 million) last January when it closed its second fund.

Singapore listings have slumped as investors pulled money from Asia ahead of an expected interest rate increase by the United States Federal Reserve, with companies raising just US$117 million this year, down from the US$2.1 billion in the previous period in 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Since last December, just nine listings have been reported - all on the junior board Catalist. Of these only five had market capitalisations of over S$100 million last Friday.

Industry players said Singapore's capital markets is one of the casualties of a volatile global market, which has also dampened sentiment in other big stock exchanges.

Singapore Exchange said this month it is forming a listings advisory committee to help revive IPOs at South-east Asia's biggest bourse.

"The Everstone Group does not comment on market rumours or speculation," the company said in an e-mail statement.

IndoSpace has 11 projects under development across five cities in India, and a target built-up area of 15 million square feet of industrial and warehousing facilities, according to its website.

Everstone, founded in 2006, manages US$3.3 billion in private equity and real estate assets in India and South-east Asia, according to its website.

The firm said in August last year that it has appointed Brooks Entwistle, previously Goldman Sachs Group Inc's chairman for South-east Asia, as its group chief executive officer in Singapore.

Realterm Global is a US-based industrial real estate company.

An index gauge tracking 33 Reits in Singapore has tumbled 11 per cent this year.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 01, 2015, with the headline Indian property firm looking to list Reit in Singapore. Subscribe