Croesus Group (IPO)

Upcoming IPO: The Business Times reported today that Croesus Group is planning to list Croesus Retail Trust, a $800m retail mall trust, in Singapore this year. The Tokyo-based fund intends to buy 9 shopping malls in Tokyo and Osaka. The properties are expected to be purchased from Marubeni Corp and Daiwa House Industry Co, whose officials have declined comment. According to CBRE, rents in prime Tokyo shopping areas are expected to start rising this year after having remained flat for the 9 months ending Mar 2012. The IPO is believed to be managed by Citi and DBS, and if successful, will be Singapore’s largest listing since MCT’s IPO in Apr. The trust is reportedly looking to develop a pan-Asian portfolio, and will be only the second Japanese property trust listing in Singapore after Saizen REIT. Large cap retail REITs CT and MCT are trading at 1.23x and 1.03x P/NAV and 5.1% and 6.2% DPU yield respectively.