HNA's Former Singapore Partner Is Said to Revive IPO Work
HNA's Former Singapore Partner Is Said to Revive REIT IPO Work
(Bloomberg) -- AEP Investment Management Pte has resumed work on a long-delayed Singapore initial public offering of its property assets after Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. terminated its participation in the listing, people familiar with the matter said.
Singapore-based AEP held talks with advisers this week about preparing to list the property trust later in 2018, according to the people. It plans to seek a market value of as much as S$600 million ($459 million) and aims to list around the second quarter, though the timeline could slip, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.
Credit Suisse Group AG and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. are in discussions to lead the offering, the people said. DBS Group Holdings Ltd., which previously had a senior role, is no longer part of the underwriting group, according to the people.
HNA Investment Group Co. said in an exchange filing this week that it ended its cooperation with AEP on the planned Singapore trust IPO. AEP had already been exploring ways to scale back its ties to the debt-laden Chinese conglomerate and potentially find a new partner, people with knowledge of the matter said in August. Separately, Bank of America Corp. last year stopped working on the property trust listing amid growing concerns on the conglomerate’s debt levels and ownership.
AEP may still invite another partner to contribute real estate to the trust after HNA’s departure, the people with knowledge of the matter said this week. Nomura Holdings Inc. is in talks to join the deal as AEP resumes preparations for the listing, according to the people. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. has also been working on the offering, they said.
Representatives for AEP, CIMB, Credit Suisse, OCBC and DBS declined to comment, while a spokesman for Nomura said he couldn’t immediately comment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net, Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at echew16@bloomberg.net, Crystal Tse in Hong Kong at ctse44@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert
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