* IPO set to be priced at $0.83/unit, top of expectations
* REIT to buy three office buildings in United States
* Manulife REIT to take $296 mln loan to buy buildings
(Adds Singapore IPO activity, cornerstone investors, use of
proceeds)
HONG KONG, May 11 (Reuters) - Manulife US REIT is set to
price its Singapore initial public offering at the top of
expectations, IFR reported on Wednesday, helping to revive new
listings there with a $519.2 million deal, the biggest in almost
two years.
The real estate investment trust (REIT) offered 625.52
million units that are slated to be priced at $0.83 each,
Thomson Reuters publication IFR reported, citing a source close
to the transaction.
At that price, the REIT forecast a distribution yield of 6.6
percent in 2016 and 7.1 percent in 2017, according to its IPO
prospectus.
The REIT is Singapore's biggest since the $611 million
listing of Accordia Golf Trust ACCO.SI in July 2014. Companies
have raised just $34.2 million from IPOs in Singapore so far in
2016, after the weakest year for listings in 17 years in 2015
with $432.6 million worth of deals, according to Thomson Reuters
data.
Cornerstone investors, including Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) AG, DBS Bank,
Fortress Capital Asset Management and the sovereign wealth fund
for Oman, agreed to buy 169.5 million of the REIT's units.
Manulife International Ltd, a unit of Canada's biggest life
insurer Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO , also agreed to buy
59.4 million units, with the remainder sold in a public
offering.
Manulife US Real Estate Management Pte Ltd, which will
manage the REIT, plans to use proceeds from the IPO to fund the
acquisition of three office buildings, two in the Los Angeles
area and one in Atlanta, worth $771.4 million, according to the
IPO prospectus. In conjunction with the listing, the REIT will
also raise $296 million from a loan with John Hancock Life
Insurance Co (USA) JHLC.UL to finance the purchase of the
properties.
The two-year loan pays a fixed interest rate of 2.8 percent,
the prospectus showed.
DBS was hired as sole financial adviser on the IPO, with
China International Capital Corp (CICC), Credit Suisse and
Deutsche bank also acting as joint bookrunners on the deal.