Citibank: Lingzhan Real Estate Fund (00823) launches share repurchase to maintain “buy” rating

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Citi released a research report saying that Lingzhan Real Estate Fund (00823) launched a unit repurchase last Thursday (9th) and repurchased 1.57 million units at an average price of 37.816 yuan on the first day. The company has indicated that it will use all of the 250 million Singapore dollars (about HK$1.5 billion) from the sale of Thomson Plaza for repurchases, which is equivalent to about 1.5% of the market value, and may increase further depending on additional capital cycles (such as The Cabot in London and 100 Market Street in Sydney). Maintaining the “Buy” rating, the target price remained unchanged at HK$44.8.

Citi estimates that the company's potentially saleable non-core asset channels are around HK$14.9 billion, accounting for 7% of the investment portfolio. With the launch of share repurchases, the Hong Kong retail portfolio's rent stabilized due to a moderate recovery in tenant sales, and the appointment of a new CEO, the fundamentals of leading the way are recovering, and overall shareholder returns are attractive.