Astrea 7 US$755m Bonds 3x Subscribed

Astrea 7 Pte and Azalea Investment Management Pte 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 billion, 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.”