- Loan-Shark Loan (US$137Mil)- Interest of 7.25% per annum and also additional 21.16% extra of the capital return at year end- total 64.66%financing cost over 6 years!
The much anticipated rescue plan was announced by the Manager of Manulife US REIT ("MUST") on 29 November 2023. First and foremost, let me address the elephant in the room in the current MUST fiasco. Personally, I think that all unit-holders have not much of a choice but will need to vote for this at the upcoming EGM to approve the loan-shark loan from the sponsor. There is currently no other viable alternatives-MUST had previously explored and exhausted various alternatives to address the breach of financial covenant and the sharp decline in the real estate valuation but to no avail. Failure to do so will mean an immediate liquidation or firesales of all office assets at this worst possible juncture which is the trough bottom of the US commercial office market.
