SINGAPORE (June 29): ARA Asset Management, JL Family Office, and Minterest Holdings announced on Monday that Minterest has successfully launched its second real estate investment product on Friday.
The launch raised $5 million within a day.
Minterest’s latest product offering is a short-term loan note which ultimately invests in ARA-Shinyoung REIT, a private REIT managed by ARA Korea Limited that owns a mixed-use property located in the shopping district of Dongdaemun, Seoul, South Korea, and strategically located at the fringe of Seoul’s CBD.
The property was last valued at KRW61 billion ($70 million). It comprises 275 residential units and one floor of retail space. The property, which was completed in 2017, has a high occupancy rate of close to 91% for its residential units, and a fully-occupied retail space.
The fixed income short-term loan note product, which is backed by ARA, offers a gross return of 5% per annum for a minimum 6-month tenor, and is a follow-up to the success of its debut real estate product launch which raised $2.7 million within a fortnight in May.
“This product is interesting in that it provides investors with the opportunity to invest in a short-term loan note with a privately managed REIT as the underlying product which was previously available only to institutional investors,” says Janice Koh, director of fintech at Ara Property Management, the property management arm of Ara, cum chief commercial officer at Minterest.
“ARA-Shinyoung REIT invests in a mixed-used property which brings the co-living concept to its residents. Multifamily rental housing, a trend that has been quickly embraced by the millennials, has been gaining traction in South Korea,” she adds.
“By teaming up with ARA and JLFO, we are able to offer our members a professionally-managed real estate investment product that offers a relatively attractive risk-adjusted return versus other comparable investments. The strong investor response to the first two real estate products on the Minterest platform is very encouraging, and we hope to create more of such quality products to satisfy our members’ demand,” says Charis Liau, CEO of Minterest.
ARA Asset Management Limited and its group CEO, John Lim, jointly acquired a majority stake in Minterest, in May.
