Two Singaporean CMBS deals priced last week. CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) and CapitaMall Trust (CMT) - two real estate investment trusts established by property developer CapitaLand - closed a S$866 million ($552.6 million) issue put together by HSBC; while OCBC and Standard Chartered Bank jointly arranged the S$260 million offering by Frasers Centrepoint (FCL) (ASR, 09/11/06).
Sold via the Silver Oak SPV, CCT and CMT's transaction refinances a bridge loan that part-financed their S$2.2 billion acquisition of the Raffles City complex.
Given the prime nature and high occupancy rates of the assets - encompassing retail, office and hotel space - the deal was extensively marketed in Europe and Asia.
The $427 million A1' notes, rated triple-A by Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's, finished 19 basis points over Libor, one point inside the marketed range. The 60 million A2 piece - rated triple-A by Fitch and Moody's - also ended one point tighter at 23 basis points, while the $86.5 million B-class paper - rated AAA'/'Aa2' - offered a 28 basis point spread.
The pricing confirms how Singaporean CMBS has developed into a prized asset class. Two years ago, even the best transactions would have paid a premium of between six and eight basis points over those done by European borrowers. However, with Barclays Capital's latest CMBS marketed at 18 to 19 basis points for the triple-A piece, the premium between Singaporean and European issued CMBS has largely been eliminated.
FCL's single-tranche transaction - issued through the Star Topaz SPV - refinances a term loan that funded the acquisition of three shopping malls.
The five-year bullet notes priced where they were marketed, paying 20 basis points over the Singapore dollar swap offer rate. Although allocations were being finalized as of press time, a source said the deal was oversubscribed and attracted interest from banks, asset managers and funds.
Elsewhere, the long wait by arrangers to receive requests for proposals (RFP) from Thailand's Government Housing Bank (GHB) for a THB40 billion ($1.1 billion) RMBS continues. GHB, the country's biggest mortgage originator with a 38% market share, originally declared its intention to securitize last October (ASR, 10/17/05).
At the end of June, the bank met with foreign investment banks - including ABN Amro, Calyon, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered - when it confirmed plans to raise THB30 billion offshore, most likely in U.S. dollars or euros, and the remainder onshore.
A formal RFP was expected soon afterwards, but over two months on; potential advisors have still to receive one. A source familiar with the mandate said the RFP has been approved in principal but needs to be formally ratified by GHB's board of directors. With a new chief executive officer due to come in and the chief financial officer on holiday, arrangers may have another few weeks to wait.
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