Thailand Industry Focus
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Thailand Industry Focus Property Funds and REITs Refer to important disclosures at the end of this report DBS Group Research . Equity 5 May 2017 More REIT conversion in 2H17 SET : 1,573.05 SPWPF being converted into REIT and renamed Analyst Chanpen SIRITHANARATTANAKUL +662 657 7824 SRIPANWA, more conversion to be seen in 2H17 [email protected] One new office REIT, named GLANDRT, recently Thailand Research Team +662 658 1222 listed; but three property funds are being taken [email protected] private STOCKS Sector offering market-cap weighted average 12-mth yield of 5.8%, a 304bps spread over Thai 10-year Price Mkt Cap Target Price Performance (%) Bt US$m Bt 3 mth 12 mth Rating government bond yield at 2.78% CPN Retail Growth 18.60 1,191 21.70 (4.6) (8.4) BUY Our top picks are LHHOTEL, CPNRF and CPTGF Property Fund About the REIT conversion. The Thai government has LH Hotel Leasehold 13.80 125 16.70 0.7 6.2 BUY agreed to extend all taxes waivers relating to the conversion REIT from property funds into REITs until end-2017. So far, only Tesco Lotus Retail 16.80 1,137 18.50 (4.0) (0.6) HOLD Growth Freehold SPFPF was converted into REIT and renamed SRIPANWA. We and Leasehold expect to see more property funds being converted into REITs Property Fund in 2H17. Among these are CPN Retail Growth Property Fund CP Tower Growth 12.80 358 13.80 (14.7) (18.0) BUY (CPNRF), WHA Premium Factory & Warehouse Freehold and Leasehold Leasehold Property Fund (WHAPF), Quality Houses Leasehold Samui Airport 23.00 632 24.00 (5.7) (6.1) HOLD Property Fund Property Fund (QHPF) and Quality Houses Hotel & Residence Leasehold Property Fund (QHHR). Source: DBSVTH, Bloomberg Finance L.P. Closing price as of 3 May 2017 Thai listed property funds’ gearing is very Interest rate hike? low at 0-10%, while Thai REITs’ gearing is moderate, averaging 21%. Despite the US interest rate hikes, we expect domestic interest rate to remain flat this year. We therefore see limited CPN Retail Growth Property Fund : Property Fund – Investing in retail properties impact to the sector’s net investment income and distribution. LH Hotel Leasehold REIT : REIT – Investing in hotel asset The sector index has come off 4.6% YTD, underperforming the Tesco Lotus Retail Growth Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund : SET Index’s 1.5% gain. This was amid concerns over the Property Fund – Investing in retail properties sector’s narrower yield-spread over Thai government bond CP Tower Growth Leasehold : Property Fund – Investing in office yield, and selling by some local institutional investors. We towers therefore start to see good value in some office PFPO/REITs as Samui Airport Property Fund : Property Fund – Investing in Samui their stocks came down to a more reasonable level. Airport Our top picks. Our top three PFPO/REIT picks are LH Hotel Leasehold REIT (LHHOTEL), CPN Retail Growth Property Fund (CPNRF), and CP Tower Growth Leasehold Property Fund (CPTGF). We like LHHOTEL for its quality asset in good location, generous distribution yield of 7.3% and potential acquisition growth. CPNRF is looking to convert from property fund into a REIT and acquire more assets from CPN. This could help enhance yield from 6.3% this year. CPTGF’s price has come down to an attractive level with a 2017 yield of 6.9%. The fund possesses leasehold rights to three office towers, all in prime locations. ASIAN INSIGHTS VICKERS SECURITIES ed: CK / sa:TP, PY Industry Focus What’s new Leasehold Property Fund (QHPF) and Quality Houses Hotel & Residence Leasehold Property Fund (QHHR), Ticon Property One property fund converted into REIT. Fund (TFUND), Tpark Logistics Property Fund (TLOGIS), and Sri Panwa Hotel Property Fund (SPWPF) was converted from Ticon Industrial Growth Leasehold Property Fund (TGROWTH). property fund into a real estate investment trust (REIT) and All such conversion needs approval from their unitholders. renamed SRIPANWA in late 2016. The REIT also acquired additional assets from Charn Issara Residence Co., Ltd. The new CPNRF is looking to convert into a REIT and acquire 1-2 assets assets include (i) a luxury hotel in Phuket named “Sri Panwa from CPN within 2H17. WHAPF is looking to convert into a Hotel”, and (ii) a resort in Phuket named “X29”. REIT and consolidate into WHART. This should double WHART’s size. QHPF is looking to convert into a REIT and SRIPANWA has now a total market capitalisation of Bt3.0bn, acquire Q House Asoke office tower from QH. QHHR is comprising 279m units at a market price of Bt10.8. Out of the looking to convert into a REIT and acquire two provincial total 279m shares, 200m shares were swapped with the assets residential condominium towers from QH. TFUND, TLOGIS, from SPWPF valued at Bt2.3bn, the remaining 79m shares were and TGROWTH are looking to convert into REITs and new units issued for the acquisition of additional assets valued consolidate into TREIT. at Bt1.3bn. At end-2016, SRIPANWA’s gearing was 12.4%. What’s new Tax waivers for REIT conversion extended by one year . REIT Conversion The Cabinet has approved the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to SPWPF Already converted into SRIPANWA extend the waivers on various taxes (VAT, specific business tax, CPNRF Looking to convert into REIT in 2H17 stamp duty, income tax on unitholders of property funds that QHHR Looking to convert into REIT in 2H17 are converted into REITs) and transaction costs (transfer fees, QHPF Looking to convert into REIT in 2H17 mortgage registration, leasehold registration) to facilitate WHAPF Looking to consolidate assets into WHART conversion from property funds into REITs from end-2016 to TFUND Looking to consolidate assets into TREIT end-2017. TLOGIS Looking to consolidate assets into TREIT TGROWTH Looking to consolidate assets into TREIT We view this positively and believe that they should the pave Asset Acquisition way for the conversion of PFPOs into REITs, given that major CPNRF To acquire new assets from CPN after conversion into transaction costs are cleared. Thai PFPOs are not allowed to REIT increase capital to acquire new assets. The conversion into REITs QHHR To acquire new assets from QH after conversion into should help extend the lives of property funds, especially those REIT QHPF To acquire an office tower from QH after conversion with leasehold assets, enabling the funds to grow their fund into REIT size, boost distribution yields given the higher gearing allowed LHHOTEL To acquire Grande Centre Point Rajdamri Hotel from LH under REITs. WHART To acquire new assets from WHA in 2H17 New listing Note that a REIT is allowed to gear up to 35% of total assets (or GLANDRT First REIT IPO in 2017 up to 60% if it secures an investment grade rating), vs 10% of NAV for a property fund. REITs have more flexibility as they can Source: Company, DBSVTH invest overseas. They can invest in green-field projects up to 10% of total assets. One new office REIT named GLANDRT recently listed. A new office REIT named GLAND Office Leasehold REIT More REIT conversion expected in 2H17. (GLANDRT) recently made its debut on the Stock Exchange of The Thai government has agreed to extend all taxes relating to Thailand on 21 April. GLANDRT holds 30-year leasehold the conversion from property funds into REITs until end-2017. rights to The Nine Tower and 17-year leasehold rights to So far, only SPFPF was converted into REIT and renamed Unilever House, both are located on Rama IX Road. SRIPANWA. The fund issued 499.8m units at Bt10 apiece to the public. At We expect to see more property funds being converted into IPO, the fund offers a relatively generous distribution yield of REITs in 2H17. Among these are CPN Retail Growth Property 7.2%. Its share price went up to Bt11.6 on its first day trade, Fund (CPNRF), WHA Premium Factory & Warehouse Freehold before easing to Bt10.70 of late. At the current price of and Leasehold Property Fund (WHAPF), Quality Houses Bt10.7, the fund offers a moderate distribution yield of 6.7%, in line with office fund/REIT peers. ASIAN INSIGHTS VICKERS SECURITIES Page 2 Industry Focus About GLANDRT cabinet’s resolution had been submitted for royal endorsement and was published in the Royal Gazette. The government has 2014 2015 2016 given a one-year grace period for property funds, as the law Office The Nine Tower will become effective on 24 May 2017 which is one year after Occupiers 64 71 76 it was published in the Royal Gazette. Leasable area (sqm) 62,950 62,950 62,950 Occupancy (%) 92.0 93.5 95.0 These tax exemptions for property funds were introduced to Rental rate (Bt/sqm/month) 529 534 560 help the property sector and resolve the problems inherent in Revenue (Btm) 212 404 415 the financial system during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Now that the property sector has recovered, the government Cost & expenses (Btm) (76) (130) (130) sees no further need for such tax exemptions. EBITDA (Btm) 136 273 285 EBITDA margin (%) 64.0 67.7 68.7 This is negative for property funds, but has no impact on REITs. The impact on property funds, however, is not that material. Office Unilever House Most property funds can pass on value-added tax (7%) and Occupiers 1 1 1 stamp duty (0.1%) to tenants, while the specific business tax is Leasable area (sqm) 18,527 18,527 18,527 applied only upon the sale of the assets.