Developer hires investment banks to prepare spin-off worth up to US$500m
The recent real estate investment trust frenzy has lured another property developer to the fray, with sources saying Henderson Land Development has mandated Macquarie, Deutsche Bank and HSBC to help spin off a US$400 million to US$500 million reit.
The trust is likely to be launched in the second quarter, becoming the city's fourth reit, although sources said the timetable had not been finalised and it could yet be beaten by the reit Macquarie was also rushing to market.
'The [spin-off] plan is still at a very preliminary stage and it's too early to talk about the asset scale and portfolio,' a source said. Henderson was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Analysts said two types of properties were likely to be injected into the Henderson reit.
'Shopping malls attached to the company's large housing estates could be one type,' Dao Heng Securities research head Eric Yuen Chi-fung said.
The other option was its non-core commercial assets such as office-commercial buildings and industrial-office properties in Chai Wan, North Point and Mongkok.
