IGB Corp plans to raise RM700m in trust listing

IGB Corp, Malaysia's third-largest property developer by market value, plans to raise about RM700 million by selling shares in a retail property trust, said two people familiar with the matter.

The trust may list units in the second half of the year in Kuala Lumpur, said the people who declined to be named as the information is private. IGB appointed CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, Credit Suisse Group AG and Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd. as joint global coordinators for the initial public offering, according to a Kuala Lumpur stock exchange filing yesterday. The company didn't say how much the IPO will raise.

IGB is taking advantage of a stock-market rebound that pushed Malaysia's benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index to a record earlier this month. Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, Malakoff Bhd and Gas Malaysia Bhd are also planning stock sales, after the value of equity offerings in the country slumped to an three-year low in 2011.

IGB Managing Director Robert Tan couldn't immediately be reached for comment at his office in Kuala Lumpur. Reuters reported on March 22 that IGB was seeking to raise RM600 million to RM700 million through the trust listing, citing an unidentified person.

Plantations owner Felda Global may have a market capitalization of about RM21 billion after its IPO, Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, chairman of parent company Felda Holdings Bhd, said on Feb. 14.

IGB's trust would initially hold two Kuala Lumpur shopping malls, the Gardens Mall and Mid Valley Megamall, which IGB would acquire from its subsidiary KrisAssets Holdings Bhd, according to yesterday's filing.

Mid Valley Megamall is home to 420 outlets, according to KrisAssets' website, while The Gardens houses 200 shops including department chains Isetan and Robinsons.

IGB's offering comes after Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, another Kuala Lumpur shopping center owner, raised RM710 million in an IPO in November to become the country's second-biggest property trust by market value. It overtook CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust, a unit of Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd, which raised RM852 million through an IPO in 2010. -- Bloomberg

IGB vroom vroom long term