MRCB-Quill REIT's Menara Shell in KL Sentral (Photo: MRCB-Quill REIT)

Malaysia-listed MRCB-Quill REIT announced on 28 September that it has received an approval from the country’s securities commission to list up to 438,619,000 new units in the REIT.

The listing of the new units will take place through of a private placement tranche of up to 406,666,667 units, and a separate tranche of up to 31,952,333 units that will be issued to the REIT’s manager in connection with the acquisition of Menara Shell - a 33-storey office tower in Kuala Lumpur.

Proceeds from placement of the new units will be used to partially fund this acquisition.

MRCB-Quill REIT first announced in mid-2016 that it was acquiring Menara Shell from one of its sponsors, Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB), for MYR640 million (USD154 million).

The office tower features a five-storey podium, and a four-storey basement car park with 557,053 square feet of net lettable area.

As of 25 March 2016, Menara Shell has an occupancy rate of 99.9%.

The acquisition will increase MRCB-Quill REIT’s portfolio book value to MYR2.27 billion from MYR1.63 billion currently.

The issuance and listing of the new MRCB-Quill REIT units must be completed within six months from the date of approval given by the Malaysian securities commission, which was on 27 September.

Units of MRCB-Quill REIT last changed hands on the Bursa Malaysia at MYR1.25.

By Ridzwan Rahmat

Ridzwan has been analysing REITs and business trusts since 2008, and personally manages a portfolio comprising mainly of SGX-listed REITs. He founded REITsWeek in 2013.