Ascott Residence Trust (ART)

Ascott Residence Trust (ART): private placement of 114.9m new units (10.1% of existing shares out) at $1.305 per unit, to raise gross proceeds of $150m. The new units represent 10.1% of existing shares out, and are issued at 8.1% below the last counter’s close at $1.42. Indicative pricing for the new units were at a price range of btwn $1.305 to $1.335 per unit. The proceeds will be primarily used to fund potential future acquisitions, finance asset enhancement initiatives, repay existing debt and for general working capital. Assuming the proceeds are used to pare existing debts, ART’s aggregate leverage will drop from 40.1% to 34.9%. In conjunction with the private placement, ART will declare an Advanced Distribution from 1 Jan ’13 to the date immediately prior to the date of issue of new units. The Advanced Distribution is estimated to be between 0.59 cts and 0.63 cts per unit. The new units are expected to be issued on or about 6 Feb 2013. DBS, Stan Chart are arranging the sale. ART trades at 1.05x P/B, 6.0% yield.