Yesterday saw four block trades in the market, including two deals out of Thailand. And three of the deals were led by UBS on a sole basis, making it an extremely busy evening for the Swiss bank.
The largest of the deals was a sell-down in Indorama Ventures, a Thai company that listed in January last year. It is the world's second largest producer of PET, which is used primarily to make drinks bottles, and is also active throughout the polyester chain. Other products include polyester fibre, which is mainly used in textiles and for industrial purposes such as conveyor belts and technical fabrics.
The seller, a special purpose vehicle owned by the family of the CEO which is the controlling shareholder, was looking to raise up to Bt6.94 billion ($226 million). The deal was due to be kept open until this morning and was handled by Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley together with local Thai firm Bualuang Securities.
The deal comprised a base offering of 120 million shares plus an upsize option of 30 million shares. They were being offered at a price between Bt44 and Bt46.25, which equals a tight discount versus yesterday’s close of between 0% at the top end and 4.9% at the bottom.
Meanwhile, The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) sold just over half its stake in Hong Kong-listed Champion Real Estate Investment Trust, reaping a total of HK$634.5 million ($82 million) and reducing its holdings to 2.4% from 5.1%. UBS was the sole bookrunner.
The investment company offered 135 million units at a price between HK$4.65 and HK$4.80, which represented a discount between 4.2% and 7.2% versus yesterday’s closing price. The final price was fixed close to the bottom at HK$4.70 for a 6.2% discount, suggesting investors were price sensitive. The seller was also not able to make use of an unspecified upsize option that was flagged on the initial term sheet.
However, demand was said to be healthy and include some chunky orders. The buyers were led by fundamental and property-focused investors. Some hedge funds also participated. In all, about 30 investors came into the deal. Most of the demand came from Asia, but there were some orders from Europe and the US as well.
GIC has been a long-term shareholder in Champion Reit and at one point held just over 9% of the company. This was diluted back to 5.7% when the trust did a large placement of new units to pay for an acquisition in 2008. Champion Reit is sponsored by Hong Kong property developer Great Eagle Holdings and own two office/retail properties in Hong Kong.
Also in the market last night were two smaller healthcare-related blocks in Singapore-listed Raffles Medical Group and Bangkok-listed Bumrungrad International Hospital. In both cases the seller was an undisclosed institutional investor and in each case UBS was the sole bookrunner.
Raffles Medical, an operator of medical clinics and provider of general medical services in Singapore, saw about $45 million of its shares change hands. The deal was said to have attracted good quality long-only investors, but was priced at the bottom of the S$2.26 to S$2.33 price range for the maximum 7% discount.
Having launched after 7pm, the Bumrungrad deal was still open in the early hours of this morning. The shares were offered in a price range of Bt29.25 to Bt30.25 for a discount of 4% to 7.1% versus yesterday’s close and a total deal size of about $40 million. Bangkok-based Bumrungrad is the largest private hospital in Southeast Asia. It serves more than 1 million patients per year, including some 400,000 international patients, giving it a strong focus on medical tourism.
