By TMR

AXIS Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis-REIT) has raised RM334.7 million via a private placement exercise which will be used to repay its bank financings for the financial year-to-date. 

The proceeds will also be used to lower the current financing ratio from 38% (post completion of Xin Hwa Warehouse at Pasir Gudang acquisition in Oct 2021) to 28%, the group noted in a statement yesterday. 

Axis-REIT placed out a total of 188.04 million new units, representing 13% of the existing fund size of 1,446.48 million units. 

The private placement shares issue price was fixed at RM1.78 per unit representing a discount of 4.6% to the five days volume-weighted average price up to Dec 1, 2021. 

In conjunction with the placement exercise, Axis-REIT declared a fourth interim income distribution of 2.03 sen per unit for the period from Oct 1, 2021 to Dec 15, 2021. The fourth interim income distribution 

is payable on Jan 14, 2022.
“The private placement is in 

line with our prudent capital management strategy, by providing us sufficient headroom for future acquisitions and enabling us to carry out more development pro- jects. We will continue to acquire high-quality accretive properties with strong recurring rental income, in order to create stable and sustainable return for our unitholders,” Axis REIT Managers Bhd CEO Leong Kit May said.