This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHINESE influential power couple and a family member of the United States’ Bush political dynasty family have grabbed a $170 million stake in Cromwell Property Group.
Husband-and-wife duo Gordon Tang and Celine Tang, who live in Singapore, took on the strategic placement via their Singapore-listed property development, investment and management giant SingHaiyi Group Ltd., and their private vehicle Haiyi Holdings Pte. Ltd.
SingHaiyi is headed by chairman Neil Bush, part of the Bush US political dynasty as the son of George H.W. Bush and brother of George W. Bush, both former Presidents.
The Tangs’ interests span Singapore, US and Europe, and their influence rises well beyond the property domain. They donated $1.3 million in 2015 to Neil and George’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Republican Presidential nomination run, according to the Intercept, which also reported that Tang offered its reporter $200,000 not to write the story.
In 2013 the couple bought then-US Ambassador to China Gary Locke’s house in Bethesda, Maryland, after President Obama appointed him to the role.
Locke later became a senior advisor to one of the Tang’s companies, American Pacific International Capital, based in California.
The couple have also donated to the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Celine Tang said the investment gives Singhaiyi the box seat to benefit from the growth potential in Australia’s commercial property market.
“We are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to grow and broaden our income streams through yield-accretive acquisitions, quality property developments and astute investments.
“The subscription in stapled securities of Cromwell Property Group will firmly position SingHaiyi to be a direct beneficiary of the strong growth potential of Cromwell’s prime Australian commercial property assets.
“The subscription will also offer SingHaiyi unprecedented exposure to Cromwell’s wider portfolio of high quality income producing assets across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. With its track record as an established global real estate investment manager, we are confident that Cromwell will deliver significant value creation for SingHaiyi,” Tang said.
The latest $170 million placement comes after Cromwell listed a slimmed-down version of its Cromwell European REIT on the Singapore stock exchange late in November, of which chief executive officer Paul Weightman said the Tangs are “cornerstone” investors.
“Their investment reaffirms Cromwell’s standing as a global real estate investment manager and highlights our ability to access capital from across the globe, in particular from Asia. We are delighted to have them on board,” Weightman said.
Proceeds will be used to repay short-term debt associated with Cromwell’s own investment in CEREIT, for general corporate purposes and investment in value-adding and acquisition opportunities for its portfolio.
Cromwell was forced to scale back the size of the CEREIT IPO after a lack of interest from investors in the initial $1.5 billion proposal.
Cromwell is expecting to offer a security purchase plan to eligible securityholders in the first quarter of 2018. Around 175 million new Cromwell stapled securities will be issued at $0.9691 per new security, a 4.9% discount to the 30 day VWAP of $1.02 to December 8.
New securities will be allotted this month will rank for and be entitled to distributions from Cromwell for the quarter ending 31 December 2017 pro rata to the number of days the new securities have been on issue during the quarter, and ranking equally with existing Cromwell stapled securities on issue thereafter.
Cromwell received a first strike from the ASX last week from investors at its annual general meeting, with 30.98% of investors voting against the board’s remuneration.
As well as the issues surrounding CEREIT this year, the board had failed in its attempt to take over Investa Office Fund.
Cromwell told Australian Property Journal in a statement that, “Cromwell Property Group (Cromwell) takes all decisions involving executive remuneration seriously with securityholder interests always at the forefront of our considerations.”
“We acknowledge the feedback with regards to this resolution. We will review the feedback and market and peer best practice in order to identify appropriate next steps.”
Australian Property Journal
