DLF puts off REIT listing in Singapore

The DLF group has deferred the Singapore listing of DLF Office Trust, the real estate investment trust (REIT) of DLF Asset (DAL), till the market condition improved, said sources close to the Gurgaon-based real restate group.

DLF Asset has received investments worth $600 million from hedge fund DE Shaw and Lehman Bothers. DLF may now raise Rs 2,000 crore through private trusts or a private placement by March end.

''They had the approvals and written commitments from investors. The issue would have sailed through but they didn't want to get into a situation similar to Reliance Power, where it becomes difficult to sustain the price,'' said sources.

DAL may now create a private trust, which works basically like a REIT, except that it's not listed and has no retail participation.

The REIT market in Singapore is down by 25-30 per cent, which may have lead to the decision to put on hold the listing.

DAL was targeting to raise around $1.3 billion. Now, DLF will raise at least $500 million which it was supposed to receive for the assets sold to its sister firm DAL, said merchant banking sources close to the group.

A REIT is a property investment trust that raises money from investors by listing on exchanges and uses funds to buy out investments from a developer. It then leases out the property, using the rental income to pay dividend.

Earlier, real estate major Unitech had put on hold a $1.5 billion qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue planned for the first quarter of 2008 in the light of the instability in the domestic stock markets and the global liquidity crunch.