China tycoon sells S$14m of ESR-Reit and IReit units in a fortnight

Tong Jinquan has pared his stake in ESR-Reit from 30.74% to 29.73% and in IReit from 34.4% to 32.89%

Published Thu, Mar 26, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

CHINESE tycoon Tong Jinquan has sold nearly S$14 million worth of units in Singapore-focused industrial landlord ESR-Reit and European commercial Reit IReit Global over the past two weeks, amid a broad Reit sector sell-off.

Disclosures filed with the Singapore Exchange show him paring his stake in ESR-Reit from 30.74 per cent two weeks ago to 29.73 per cent as at March 20. In all, he has sold 35.6 million units for about S$10 million, in five transactions and at lower prices each time.

From March 13 to March 23, he also offloaded 8.2 million units in IReit Global for S$4 million. This effectively pared his stake from 34.4 per cent to 32.89 per cent. While the units could fetch 68 cents per unit on March 13, by March 23 their value had slid to 42 cent…