Boustead Singapore

[Curiousparty]

Most grateful if someone with the accounting expertise can help to work out the sum of parts or RNAV for Boustead taking into consideration its latest market valuations for all its properties - its BIF , Vietnam platform , yet to be divested properties worth $1.4bil …

Many tks

[hancheng08]

Even at $1.40, Boustead (SGX: F9D) looks remarkably undervalued when you break down its numbers:

• Market Cap: ~$650 million (500m shares x $1.39)
  
• Net Cash: ~$320 million
  
• Enterprise Value: ~$330 million
  
• EV per share: just $0.66
  

Let’s focus on just one segment: the geo-spatial division (Esri Australia, Singapore, Malaysia), which:

• Generates PBT of ~$50 million annually
  
• Runs on a recurring, asset-light model selling software and services
  
• Serves mission-critical functions for governments and enterprises
  
• Deserves a conservative P/E of 10–15x based on industry norms
  

At just 10x P/E, the geo-spatial segment alone should be worth $500 million – already 50% more than Boustead’s entire EV (ex-net cash)

That means:
✅ The geo-spatial segment alone justifies the entire valuation
✅ All other businesses — real estate (worth at least $600mil), engineering, strategic investments — come effectively for free
✅ Strong net cash of $320 million provides downside protection

Even after stripping out one-off gains, core EPS is ~$0.15, implying a P/E of only 4.4x on current price. That’s dirt cheap for a well-managed, diversified company with a long track record.

Verdict: Boustead is still in value territory. With re-rating potential and strategic monetization upside (e.g. recent UIB deal, potential REITS), this is one to watch.

In the 2021 EGM FAQs, management mentioned that the remaining properties, valued at around S$0.7 million, are mainly held by the JV. It's possible they plan to monetize these assets. I think this could be the one they intend to monetise but i can't reconcile to the recent announcement on the pan asia UIB fund which i thought is to sell their remaining stakes.

hi hancheng08,
The current announcement is focused in Singapore assets and therefore, we can exclude foreign assets/JV (eg. some of the Vietnamese ones). Similarly, I am not able to reconcile this REIT announcement with the UIB fund sale, since there may be overlaps. My best guess is that this REIT announcement may be complimentary to the UIB fund sale --> ie. a conversion of private fund mgt/assets of BSL/UIB to a publicly traded REIT.

I think the Vietnam assets with KTG are part of the UIB transaction based on the announcement. It's likely that the seed assets for the REIT will come from the JV-held properties, like Alice@Mediapolis. We will see how it unfolds.

After taking a quick look at the annual report released recently, it make sense now.

(1) The sale to UIB probably only involves mainly the property/fund managers of Boustead Projects. This also explains why there is a sizeable 29mil FV gain I suppose, because generally the BIF assets are already at FV and therefore shouldn't attract much accounting gains.

(2) Since the real assets in BIF are not sold, they should be for consideration for the REIT IPO. As per page47 and page49 of AR25, BIF has 15 properties (total market value at 812mil) and balance sheet carries 9 properties either wholly/jointed owned (total market valuation 1.4bil) respectively. If the majority of these assets together with the singaporean ones on UIB are considered, there is enough scale.

(3) I think we can reasonably assume that the manager of the future REIT (if materializes) will be the same one managing UIB.

(1) I think there could be some gain due to their accounting policy - cost less depreciation for their investment properties.

(2) possible for the fund investor to either exit through IPO or sell down their stakes. I think the 9 properites need to exclude the hotel Como which is non-core, and is around $560m, so the valuation left is ~$900m. 
Best scenario is to REIT all their assets, which retail investors like us will benefit.

(3) yea pretty sure that is the case since they transfer their fund management to UIB.