Wee Hur gears up for 2026
Singapore-listed construction and property development company Wee Hur Holdings is planning to return to the debt capital market next year to fund a slew of new projects, after it made its bond debut in October.
The success of the maiden S$175m (US$135.4m) 4.8% five-year bond drew subsequent reverse enquiries that led to an additional S$30m tap the following month, bringing the total issue size to S$205m.
Chief investment officer Goh Wee Ping said Wee Hur intends to revisit the local currency bond market next year, although it has not decided how much it will raise.
“Based on the pipeline we see now on the deployment [of capital], we will be able to hit the full allocation for our Singapore division and therefore it’s a matter of time before we go to the market to tap once again,” he said.
Pipeline of projects
Wee Hur made headlines several times this year after it won multiple projects in Singapore. In November, it announced its first hospitality project investment, with asset management firm Aravest, to acquire Hotel Miramar for S$160m. The hotel will undergo a 12-month refurbishment as part of its relaunch under the DoubleTree by Hilton brand in the fourth quarter of next year.
It also won a S$613.9m tender in October for a suburban residential site on Upper Thomson Road in the city-state's Springleaf neighbourhood. Additionally, it is building a new international school that is due to be completed by the second half of 2027.
A portion of the proceeds from the recent bond sale will fund these projects, Goh said.
Before its bond debut, Wee Hur relied on internal capital and bank loans for funding. On a project basis, the company secured loans of up to 70% against the project value, with the remaining 30% to be sourced as project equity.
Goh said the Singaporean company had been looking for a way to raise funds in its home currency since it sold its Australian-focused purpose-built student accommodation portfolio for A$1.6bn (US$1.1bn) late last year.
“Everything we got back this year was in Australian dollars … it didn’t make sense for us to incur all these exchange costs,” he said. The Australian dollar fell to an all-time-low against the Singapore dollar in May this year.
“When we were planning for the sale last year, the parallel planning we were doing was … how do we originate more Singapore dollars without conversion? One of the natural solutions that came to us quite obviously was to tap the debt capital markets,” Goh said.
While discussions leading to the company’s bond debut started in early 2024, work on the bond programme began this year. Wee Hur set up a S$500m MTN programme in May, encouraged by falling Singapore rates.
“This year, we did the sale [of the Australian PBSA portfolio], the money came back, SORA crashed, new opportunities came … everything just felt right,” Goh said.
The Singapore overnight rate average was quoted at 1.18% on December 15, down from 2.52% on January 3, according to data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The company had targeted just S$100m for its maiden bond, but decided to raise the amount to S$150m after winning the Upper Thomson land bid with GSC Holdings through a 50-50 joint venture.
Wee Hur began marketing its bond at 5.1% area on October 28, after a non-deal roadshow in August.
The book reached S$320m by the time final price guidance was announced, which took the company by surprise, given this was its first time in the bond market.
“We were very happy,” Goh recalled after seeing the book update. The deal was upsized again to S$175m and priced at par to yield 4.8%.
With the new financing channel established, Wee Hur is now eyeing more projects to grow its family-run real estate business, though it declined to reveal details.
“Is it going to be data centre, funeral parlour, or cold chain logistics? This one’s hard to say,” said Goh, who added that these examples were not indicative of the company’s pipeline.
“We are very open to looking at the myriad of opportunities that fit within our financial hurdles, [having] a good operating partner and a construction/real estate angle.”