A few days ago, Aspial announced that they will be issuing a retail bond.
The offering comprises a public retail tranche of up to S$50 million and a placement tranche of up to S$25 million for institutional investors.
The net proceeds from the offer will be used for general corporate funding purposes, working capital and capital expenditure requirements, and investments.
These five-year bonds come with fixed interest of 5.25% per annum, payable semi-annually on 28 Feb and 28 Aug of each year.
The bond will be issued in multiples of $1000 with the minimum subscription amount of $2000.
Only cash mode is available (no CPF and SRS). While you might not be able to apply for the initial offering using SRS, you will be able to buy the Aspial bond from the secondary market using SRS after it has be listed.
The closing date for applications for the Bonds under the Public Offer is 26 August 2015 at 12 noon and an application for Bonds under the Public Offer may be made through the ATMs of DBS Bank (including POSB), OCBC Bank and the UOB Group and internet banking websites of DBS Bank at , OCBC Bank at and the UOB Group at , or the mobile banking interface of DBS Bank.
For those who are not familiar with Aspial, they are in the following businesses:
- Real estate – operating primary in Singapore but also in Australia and Malaysia
- Jewellery – you might have seen some of their main jewellery brands (Lee Hwa, Goldheart and CITIGEMS)
- Financial – pawnshop business via ownership of Maxi-Cash, an entity listed on the Catalist Board of SGX-ST
- Other investments – 64.1% ownership of LCD Global Investments, which owns hospitality and real estate assets across Asia and the UK
The interest given is quite attractive, but do take note that Aspial does not have a credit rating.
If you are thinking of investing, do take note of the following points:
- Make sure that the money you commit is money that you don’t require for the next five years. While you may sell the bond at any time on the secondary market after issuance, the price you get may (or may not) be lower than the price you paid.
- Allocate only a portion of your wealth as the worst case scenario of any bond issue is the default of the issuer in which case you may get nothing or very little money back.
You can review the Aspial Bond offer documents below:
Aspial Bond Product Highlights Sheet (18-August-2015)
Aspial Bond Prospectus (18-August-2015)
If you have questions, you can call DBS bank, which is the sole lead manager and bookrunner for this Aspial Bond issue. Their numbers are : 1800 111 1111 (DBS) or 1800 339 6666 (POSB).