- Astrea 7, the largest offering of retail PE bonds in Singapore to date, received strong investor demand
- Retail investors can access two classes of investment grade bonds for the first time
- Overall issuance of Astrea 7 Private Equity (“PE”) Bonds 3 times subscribed
- Total subscription of more than US$2 billion1 across all three classes of bonds
- Offer of S$526 million Class A-1 Bonds nearly 3 times subscribed
- S$877 million received from 30,565 valid applicants under the retail offer
- More than 75% of bonds allocated to all valid applications of less than S$50,000
- Valid applicants who applied for S$50,000 or more were balloted
- Offer of US$200 million Class B Bonds over 3 times subscribed
- US$126 million received from 7,059 valid applicants under the inaugural retail offer
- 73% of bonds allocated to all valid applications of less than US$50,000
- All valid applicants were allocated in full or in part
- Bonds will start trading on SGX-ST at 9:00am on Monday 30 May 2022
Singapore, 26 May 2022 – Astrea 7 Pte. Ltd. (the “Issuer”) and Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd. (“Azalea”) would like to thank investors for their strong support for the Astrea 7 PE Bonds.
The total subscription received for all three classes of Astrea 7 PE Bonds was over US$2 billion1, which represents a subscription rate of 3 times of the US$755 million of Bonds offered. With respect to the retail offerings, the Issuer received valid applications of S$877 million for the Astrea 7 Class A-1 Bonds and US$126 million for the Class B Bonds as at the close of offer, 12:00 noon yesterday, from a total of 30,565 and 7,059 applicants respectively. This equals to about 3.1 times subscription rate for the Class A-1 Bonds and about 1.3 times for the Class B Bonds.
Margaret Lui, Chief Executive Officer of Azalea, said, “We are encouraged by the strong support and feedback from retail investors for the Astrea 7 Class A-1 and Class B Bonds. Given the current market volatility, we are pleased to see investors’ recognition of the quality of the Astrea 7 PE Bonds. Azalea is committed to take a phased approach to broaden investors’ access to private equity, and we are pleased to be able to offer the retail investors in Singapore an opportunity to invest in the more junior tranche US-dollar denominated Class B Bonds for the first time in Astrea 7. Azalea will be guided by investors’ demand and feedback to develop and introduce more innovative products and solutions to deepen investors’ exposure to private equity in the future.”
“We are heartened to see retail investors engaging with the various investor education materials that Azalea had made available through different channels. In the short IPO period, the Astrea 7 website garnered close to 50,000 page views. This bodes well for a responsible investor base.”
Azalea’s investor education materials include the IPO webpage, explainer videos and Management Presentation recordings. With the relaxing of the COVID-19 restrictions, Azalea also resumed its live Management Presentation for Astrea IPOs and held a seminar on 23 May 2022 for retail investors to learn more about the Astrea 7 PE Bonds. For performance updates, retail investors can participate in Azalea’s annual Astrea Investor Day.
Clifford Lee, Global Head of Fixed Income of DBS, said, “This has been a challenging year for bond issuances. The strong interest shown by retail investors for Astrea’s latest offering is testament to the growing popularity of investment-grade PE-backed bonds to provide private equity exposure and regular income. In today’s uncertain market, investors recognised the quality of Azalea’s offering and the opportunity to diversify their portfolios with PE exposure. In addition, the Class B Bonds are the first US-dollar denominated investment grade bonds for retail investors in Singapore. This bodes well for the development of Singapore’s retail bond market.”
Placement
The retail offering of Astrea 7 Class A-1 Bonds and Class B Bonds followed the successful placement of the three classes of the bonds to institutional and accredited investors, comprising:
- S$246 million of Class A-1 Bonds;
- US$175 million of Class A-2 Bonds; and
- US$100 million of Class B Bonds.
Distribution of the bonds under the placement tranches was diversified across a good mix of highquality institutions, including insurance companies, asset managers, endowments and foundations, making up about 60% of the investor base, with the remaining distributed to accredited investors.
Retail Allocation
All valid applicants who applied for less than S$50,000 of Class A-1 Bonds received allocations either in full or in part. More than 75% of the Class A-1 Bonds were allocated to these applicants, and those who applied for S$9,000 or less received full allocations. Balloting was conducted for applicants who applied for S$50,000 or more, to provide these applicants a more meaningful allocation. 92% of valid applicants received allocations.
All valid applicants who applied for Class B Bonds received allocations either in full or in part. Those who applied for US$25,000 or less received full allocations, and 73% of Class B Bonds were allocated to all valid applicants who applied for less than US$50,000 of Class B Bonds.
This allocation policy reflects the Issuer’s desire to distribute the bonds to a broader retail investor base, especially in favour of the smaller retail investors.
The Astrea 7 Class A-1 and Class B Bonds will be issued on Friday, 27 May 2022. Retail investors can check their allocations by logging into their CDP accounts after 5:00pm on the same day.
Applicants who did not receive their allocation will have their respective balances refunded through their bank accounts by 6:00pm on Friday, 27 May 2022.
Please refer to Appendix A2 for full details of the allocation results. Listing The Astrea 7 Class A-1 and Class B Bonds will commence trading on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”) at 9:00am on Monday, 30 May 2022.
The Class A-1 Bonds will trade on the Mainboard under the trading name “Astrea7A1 4.125%320527” and in board lot sizes of S$1,000.
The Class B Bonds will trade on the Mainboard under the trading name “Astrea7B 6%320527” and in board lot sizes of US$1,000.
The SGX-ST stock code for the Class A-1 Bonds will be “V7AB” and the SGX-ST stock code for the Class B Bonds will be “V7BB”.
Once trading starts, investors may buy or sell the bonds over the SGX-ST, at the prevailing market price. Investors can check the prevailing market price through the SGX-ST website, or through other websites and apps that track securities pricing and trading.
Astrea 7 Performance Updates
Semi-annual distribution reports will be made available to bondholders every six months, through SGXNet and on the Azalea website http://www.azalea.com.sg/a7, on or around the date when interest is due to be paid to bondholders.
An annual report will be made available through the same channels around June, starting in 2023.
– END –
About the Issuer and Azalea Group
The Issuer is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Azalea Asset Management Pte. Ltd. (“Azalea”). Azalea is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seviora Holdings which is in turn wholly-owned by Temasek.
The Azalea Group invests in private equity funds, with a focus on the development and innovation of new investment platforms and products to make private equity accessible to a broader group of investors.
One such innovation is the Astrea Platform, a series of investment products based on diversified portfolios of PE funds. It represents a phased approach to develop products for long-term minded Singapore retail investors to co-invest in private equity with Azalea. Started in 2006, there are six in the series to date, with Astrea 7 being the latest addition to the Astrea Platform.
Besides the Astrea PE Bonds, Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd., the management arm of the Azalea Group, also manages other PE fund of fund products through its Altrium platform, that allows accredited investors to co-invest with Azalea and access strong-performing PE fund managers globally, while at the same time helping investors overcome traditional challenges in accessing PE.
For more information about Azalea, please visit https://www.azalea.com.sg/.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Sandpiper Communications
azalea@sandpipercomms.com
1This amount includes the S$ valid applications received for the Class A-1 Bonds, converted to USD at the USD:SGD exchange rate of US$1.00:S$1.385.
2The allocation results, and other information for applicants and bondholders, will also be published in The Straits Times newspaper on Friday, 27 May 2022 and posted on the Azalea website (www.azalea.com.sg).