Ascendas REIT’s (A-REIT) new CEO Mr Chia Nam Toon has assumed his new role on 1 Apr 2016, following the retirement of its previous CEO Mr Tan Ser Ping. This change had been announced by A-REIT on 22 Jan this year.

We do not expect any drastic change in A-REIT’s corporate strategy going forward, and believe the transition will be a smooth one, as Mr Chia was the Group CFO and Chief Corporate Officer of the Ascendas-Singbridge Group, while Mr Tan will take on the role of Advisor to the A-REIT Board for 12 months from his retirement to aid in the transition.

For A-REIT’s upcoming FY16 results, we are projecting it to register a full year DPU of 15.2 S cents, representing growth of 4.2%, and translates into a distribution yield of 6.4%. Maintain BUY and S$2.50 fair value estimate on the stock.

Source: OCBC Research - 4 Apr 2016