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I owned units in Hyflux Water Trust in the past. That investment did very well for me and, unfortunately, the Trust was privatised not too long ago. Read blog post here.
Back in 2009, I was also considering between Hyflux and E-pure as beneficiaries of a global search for solutions to water problems. I went with E-pure simply because of valuation reasons. I have no doubt that Hyflux is a strong company in a strong industry too except that its valuation has always been too rich for me.
However, the news that Hyflux is issuing preference shares with an annual dividend rate of 6% is somewhat surprising to me. In an environment of low interest rates, isn't paying a 6% interest a bit expensive? It would only make sense to do this if borrowing from a financial institution would be costlier and it would only be costlier if the company and/or its business is perceived to be high risk.
The only preference shares that I have ever owned is DBS NCPS 6%. This was something I bought 10 years ago. Intuitively, and we won't be too wrong to say this, DBS is less risky compared to Hyflux. Indeed, if DBS should default, I think that's the end for Singapore.
In a nutshell, if I were to invest in Hyflux, it would not be for income, it would be for growth. To invest for growth, I would not invest in Hyflux preference shares. To me, it is that simple.
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Hyflux to offer $200m of perpetual preference shares
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
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