Sabana REIT's Trustee attributes internalisation costs to additional EGMs

The Edge Singapore
2-min read

Sabana REIT's Trustee explains costs for 1H2024, including additional EGMs requisitioned by Quarz.

HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) Limited, Sabana Industrial REIT's Trustee, says that for the period between Jan 1 and June 30 this year, the Trustee has incurred expenses of $3.53 million in connection with the internalisation comprising (i) $2.13 million (Jan 1 – March 31) and (ii) $1.40 million (April 1 – June 30).

This includes expenses relating to (i) costs incurred in considering and responding to correspondence and proposals from certain unitholders in relation to the internalisation; (ii) additional requisitioned EGMs, and stakeholder engagement in connection with the requisitioned EGMs, that were not contemplated in the Trustee’s indicative internalisation timeline; (iii) the Order 32 Application; (iv) interactions with the Internalisation Committee; and (v) the ESR Appeal.

The income available for distribution was reduced mainly due to the increased financing costs on the back of higher borrowings and borrowing costs, as well as an enlarged unit base following the distribution reinvestment plan.

The declared DPU was also impacted by the Manager’s retention of approximately 10% of the total income available for distribution for prudent capital management in view of the costs incurred and to be incurred in connection with the internalisation. Sabana REIT's manager announced a 16.8% y-o-y decline in distributions per unit to 1.34 cents for the six months to June 30.

The ESR Entities have filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision in the Order 32 Application, and the hearing has been fixed on July 25. Following the hearing, the Trustee will consider the outcome of the ESR Appeal with its advisors in light of ongoing developments in respect of the internalisation process and the anticipated timeline.

Notably, Quarz has to bear 30% of the costs for Order 32.

 

 

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