On April 21, Dasin Retail Trust’s trustee-manager announced that Zhang Zhencheng, chairman and controlling shareholder of the trustee-manager, had entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with ARA Capital Group, a unit of ARA Asset Management to pursue a strategic partnership. Under the MOU, ARA Asset Management would acquire 5% of Dasin Retail Trust’s units and 50% of the trustee-manager. If confirmed, the agreement would give ARA Asset Management a further $2.5 billion in AUM.
ARA Asset Management says it has AUMs of $116 billion. This includes AUMs of its management companies, associates and investments.
Dasin Retail Trust is a business trust with malls in southern China. It was impacted by Covid-19 last year. Its FY2020 DPU fell by 42.2% to 3.94 cents because of a distribution waiver. Units in Dasin Retail Trust rose 3.45% on April 22 to end at 75 cents.
