Singapore Press Picks Banks for Student House REIT IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. has selected advisers to help with a planned listing of a real estate investment trust backed by student housing that could raise at least $300 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The country’s biggest media group is working with DBS Group Holdings Ltd., HSBC Holdings Plc and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. on the potential sale of trust units backed by university student accommodation in the U.K., according to the people. The initial public offering could take place in Singapore as soon as the second half of this year, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private.

SPH is set to join United Hampshire U.S. REIT and Hong Kong-based Far East Consortium International Ltd. in seeking listings on the Singapore stock exchange this year. Details of SPH’s offering could still change as deliberations are at an early stage, said the people.

Representatives for DBS, HSBC and OCBC declined to comment, while a representative for SPH referred to a statement issued last week when Bloomberg News reached out.

In a stock exchange filing on Feb. 6, SPH said it is “always considering and looking out for opportunities to improve shareholder value, including the possibility of listing its purpose built student accommodation.” It was in response to a Dow Jones report that the company is considering listing its U.K. student housing.

SPH bought the student accommodation assets in the U.K. for S$740 million ($532 million) last year, which doubles its assets under management to S$1.5 billion, according to another filing.

--With assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Joyce Koh.

To contact the reporters on this story: Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at echew16@bloomberg.net;Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fion Li at fli59@bloomberg.net, Robert Fenner

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.