Debt headroom
As at 31 March 2016, the Trust may increase its
borrowings by S$463 million before reaching
the gearing limit. The gearing limit provided for
under the Property Fund Appendix was increased
to 45% on 1 January 2016. As provided for
under the Trust Deed of a-iTrust, our applicable
gearing limit increased correspondingly to 45%.
2. Cash management
The Trust monitors and maintains a level of
cash and cash equivalents deemed adequate to
meet the TrustĄ¯s operations as well as to meet
any short-term liabilities. The cash generated
from operations at Indian entities are placed in
bank fixed deposits to maximise interest income
prior to the intended repatriation event.
Liquidity risk
The Trust maintains sufficient cash and cash
equivalents to meet the normal operating cash
requirement. The Trust regularly monitors and
observes bank covenant for borrowings.
Operating activities
Net cash generated from operating activities for
FY15/16 increased to S$97 million, compared to
S$80 million in the preceding financial year.
Investing activities
During the year, S$31 million was invested
in the construction of Victor (a new IT building
in International Tech Park Bangalore), and a
new IT building and multi-level car park in
The V, Hyderabad. In addition, S$7 million of
capital expenditure was spent on refurbishing
existing properties.
For new investments, the Trust completed the
acquisition of aVance 3, a 0.7 million sq ft IT SEZ
in Hyderabad with the payment of a final net
consideration of S$5 million to the vendor. The
total consideration for the building amounted
to S$63 million. In addition, the Trust completed
the acquisition of a 0.3 million sq ft building in
CyberVale for an initial purchase consideration
of S$6 million, with the balance consideration to
be paid in tranches as and when the buildingĄ¯s
remaining vacant space is leased out, subject to
a deadline of May 2019. This allows the Trust to
acquire the asset while minimising leasing risk.
In the preceding financial year, S$12 million was
spent on the development of Victor and
the new IT building and multi-level car park in
The V. S$92 million was invested in the
acquisitions in BlueRidge 2, a 1.5 million sq ft
IT Park in Pune and CyberVale, a 0.6 million sq
ft IT SEZ in Chennai. S$5 million was expended
on refurbishing our existing properties.
Financing activities
During the year, the Trust raised loans of S$139
million, of which S$90 million was used to refinance
existing loans.
3. INCOME HEDGING STRATEGY
We hedge the TrustĄ¯s distributable income as we do
not speculate on currency movements. Income is
repatriated semi-annually from India to Singapore in
May and November. The Trust enters into forward
contracts on a monthly basis to hedge a substantial
portion of income, tying six forward contracts to
each semi-annual repatriation of income. This
mitigates the risk of large currency fluctuations in the
period before income is repatriated to Singapore.
The gain or loss associated with the forward contract
before its maturity is recognised as unrealised fair
value gain or loss on derivative financial instruments
in the income statement. On maturity of the
forward contract, the gain or loss is recognised
as realised fair value gain or loss on derivative
financial instruments in the income statement
4. DISTRIBUTION POLICY
The TrustĄ¯s policy is to distribute at least 90% of
its distributable income. Since April 2012, a-iTrust
has retained 10% of its distributable income to
provide greater flexibility in growing the Trust.
a-iTrust makes distributions to Unitholders
on a semi-annual basis for every six-month
period ending 31 March and 30 September.
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ASCENDAS india trust ANNUAL REPORT
2015/2016
Ove r v i ew
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