Ascendas-Singbridge Group is said to be working with advisers for a Singapore real estate investment trust (Reit) listing, reported Bloomberg citing people with knowledge of the matter.

To take place as early as the first quarter, the initial public offering (IPO) is backed by recently acquired office properties in the US which could raise around US$500 million, said the sources, who wished to remain anonymous as the deals are private.

In September, the real estate firm announced that it had purchased a portfolio of 33 US office properties, with tenants including Oracle Corp and Nike Inc. The properties have a total net lettable area of around 3.3 million sq ft spread across Raleigh in North Carolina, Portland in Oregon and San Diego in California.

With deliberations on the possible IPO still at an early stage, details including the timing and size could change, explained the sources.

Meanwhile, a representative for Ascendas-Singbridge declined to comment on the matter.

Formed in 2015 by Temasek Holdings and JTC, Ascendas-Singbridge manages three Singapore-listed property trusts with focus on hospitality assets, industrial and office parks as well as Indian real estate. The firm’s website shows that it manages over S$20 billion of assets and has presence in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Source: 16 November 2018, CommercialGuru