Wee Hur shares fall 10.5% after firm sells student accommodation portfolio

After weeks of speculation, Singapore-listed Wee Hur Holdings confirmed on Dec 16 that it had sold its student accommodation assets in Australia for A$1.6 billion (S$1.37 billion) to real estate services provider Greystar.

- Ven Sreenivasan

Following news of the sale, Wee Hur shares closed on Dec 17 down five cents, or 10.5 per cent, at 42.5 cents. The stock had rallied some 32 per cent over the past two months on talk of a potential sale.

The seven-property student accommodation portfolio, which includes more than 5,500 beds across key Australian cities, had been jointly owned by Wee Hur and Singapore investment fund GIC, with Wee Hur holding a 50.1 per cent stake, and GIC with the remaining 49.9 per cent held through its unit RECO (Weather).

For its stake, Wee Hur will rake in net proceeds amounting to $320 million in cash. The company, through a subsidiary, will also hold a 13 per cent stake in the new entity set up with Greystar.