€15m TCT share placing

TREASURY China Trust (TCT) — the Chinese arm of Irish property development company, Treasury Holdings — has successfully raised more than €15 million in a private share placement that will go towards two acquisitions the company has identified.

The placing of just over 16 million shares (6.7% of the company’s original share capital) on the Singapore Stock Exchange — where the company listed earlier this year — was substantially oversubscribed, with Sing$26.7m (€15.4m) being raised after investors paid out a premium for the stock. Neither Treasury — which counts as the largest single shareholder in TCT — nor any of its related companies took part in the placement.

The proceeds from the placing will fund TCT’s (formerly China Real Estate Opportunities/CREO) further expansion into China’s retail property sector — with the purchase of the Retail Mall building in Shanghai and the Central Avenue Mall development in Qingdao; the latter being TCT’s first foray outside of Shanghai.

“It’s clear that the last decade has continued to witness significant economic reform across China, with the country deepening its industry expansion and quality of output. Furthermore, from recent actions and pronouncements, it’s clear that the Government has embarked on a programme to create a stronger domestic component of the national economy and has implemented policies to encourage greater domestic consumption. In this context, we’ll focus on the retail sector of the commercial real estate industry in China,” commented TCT chief executive, Richard David.

Mr David added that TCT will remain exclusively focused on China’s commercial property sector, “with an emphasis on regional expansion, whilst maintaining core representation in Shanghai, China’s largest market”.

“Shanghai remains a very strong retailing environment and this acquisition — which will focus on high-end luxury goods — will complement TCT’s existing Shanghai-based commercial real estate portfolio,” he said.

TCT recently reported a net after-tax profit of nearly €10.4m for the third quarter of the year.