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Close shave

Luck plays a huge role in successful investing. Don't let any one tell you otherwise.

In my last post, I had identified Lippo Malls Reit as a potential addition to my portfolio in view of its recent correction to 40 cents and its attractive trailing yield of close to 9%. Ultimately I did not go with Lippo, and instead opted to increase my holdings in Ascendas htrust.

My reasoning was mainly that I did not fancy the IDR-based income and felt that the share remain overvalued compared to its NAV.

This proved to be a close shave.

Just days after my purchase, the Indonesian Government announced a new 10% tax on rental income obtained from land leases. This is expected to reduce DPU by 7.2%.   By the reit manager's own estimate, the DPU per share for 2017 would have dropped to 3.19 cents had these regulations been put in place at the start of 2017.  Did not see that coming.

The market's reaction appears to be severe. The share price has corrected from 39 cents to 32.5 cents at the time of writing.

This means the trailing yield of Lippo now is close to 10% (even based on the reduced DPU). It is often said that any investment can be a good investment at the right price.

I may initiate a position into Lippo if it falls under 28 cents.

The basis for 28 cents is because the expected DPU (minus income support from sponsor) is around 2.72 cents a share. Taking into account the new tax regulations, we ought to further reduce the real DPU by 7%, which is 2.52 cents a share. In order to provide a 9% yield, the share price should be around 28 cents.

Caveat emptor

Onward to FI!


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