SINGAPORE – UOB Asset Management (UOBAM) on Tuesday (Nov 23) announced the listing of the UOB Asia Pacific Green real estate investment trust (Reit) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Singapore Exchange.
UOBAM claims this is the world’s first ETF enabling retail investors to invest in “quality green Reits across the Apac (Asia Pacific) with dividend yields”.
It added that the fund drew more than $80 million in assets under management during the initial offering period, which closed last Thursday.
An ETF is a type of security that tracks an index, sector, commodity, or other asset, but which can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same way a regular stock can.
The Reits featured in the UOB Apac Green Reit ETF are spread across Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Sectors include industrial, office, residential and retail.
The UOB Apac Green Reit ETF aims to replicate the performance of the iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index, which listed in October.
The index tracks 50 higher-yielding Reits across the region with strong environmental performance.
UOB claims that, when compared with similar indices and Reits in Apac without a green focus, the iEdge-UOB Apac Yield Focus Green Reit Index and correspondingly the UOB Apac Green Reit ETF have lower greenhouse gas emissions and energy and water consumption.
UOBAM chief executive Thio Boo Kiat said the UOB Apac Green Reit ETF presents investors with “an opportunity to participate in the development of sustainable real estate so they can invest for profit and purpose”.
The new ETF aims for an annual dividend yield of up to 4 per cent, with dividends to be distributed on a quarterly basis.
It is the fifth ETF traded on the SGX that tracks the performance of an Apac Reit index.
The CSOP iEdge S-Reit Leaders Index ETF, which tracks the iEdge S-Reit Leaders Index, listed last Thursday.
At the listing of the UOB Apac Green Reit ETF on Tuesday, SGX chief executive Loh Boon Chye said Reit ETFs are one of the fastest-growing asset classes on SGX.
He added that Singapore has “the most vibrant Reit market in Asia ex-Japan” and that the market has grown more than 10 per cent in size annually since it started”.
Meanwhile, “ETFs are cost-effective instruments to access a basket of stocks and we have seen assets under management for our ETFs increase by more than half since last year”.
In August, Lion Global Investors and OCBC Securities listed the Lion-OCBC Securities China Leaders ETF, Singapore’s first China-focused ETF that will pay out annual dividends to investors.
The ETF tracks the Hang Seng Stock Connect China 80 Index comprising 80 large Chinese companies across 12 industries.
In December last year, Lion Global and OCBC Securities launched the Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng Tech ETF, which is made up of the top 30 technology companies listed in Hong Kong by market capitalisation.
As at Nov 18, there were 32 ETFs listed on the SGX with assets under management totalling $12 billion, according to data from the exchange.