SG Morning Highlights | Frasers Centrepoint Trust to Acquire Additional Stake in Shopping Mall for $523.1 Million

Singapore shares opened higher on Friday. The $FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index(.STI.SG)$ rose 0.08 percent to 3,150.11 as at 9.03 am.

$FRASERS CENTREPOINT TRUST(J69U.SG)$: Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) is set to acquire an additional 24.5% effective interest in shopping mall Nex at Serangoon Central for SGD 523.1m ($386m) from its sponsor, $Frasers Property R(IOQR.SG)$. The acquisition will value Nex at Serangoon Central at SGD 2.13bn, and will raise FCT's effective interest to 50% upon completion. FCT's manager proposed a private placement to raise no less than SGD 200m ($147m) to partially fund the acquisition. The acquisition is subject to approval by unitholders at an extraordinary general meeting, the date of which will be determined later.

$Keppel(BN4.SG)$: Keppel DC Reit's distribution per unit (DPU) for H2 2023 dropped 16.1% to S$0.04332 as distributable income fell 18.5% to S$76.4m on higher finance costs and loss allowances for uncollected rental income from its three Guangdong Data Centres. Finance costs for the period rose 43.5% to S$25.8m, while property expenses increased 85.6% to S$23.1m, with S$10.5m included as a loss allowance for "doubtful receivables" to account for the uncollected rental income from its China data centre tenant. Gross revenue for the period slid 0.7% to S$140.7m, while net property income (NPI) dropped 9.1% to S$117.6m in H2 on lower net contributions from Singapore colocation assets, led by higher facilities expenses. For FY2023, the Reit's DPU stood at S$0.09383, 8.1% lower than the S$0.10214 in FY2022, with distributable income falling 9.3% to S$167.7m.