My Investment Portfolio (End Jul 2019)

Transactions made in Jul 2019:

- Bought 6,800 units of Ascendas-hTrust at $1.04 
- Sold 900 units of SIA at $9.68

Sold my SIA just before it XD and result announcement as I had a feeling I was not positive about its result announcement on 31 Jul. Also, I was able to make slightly more than the dividends amount by selling it.

I have been queuing for Ascott Reit since May 19 but did not manage to get my orders fulfilled. It has since gone up from $1.17 to $1.30. In early Jul, Capitaland announced a proposed merger to combine Ascott Reit and Ascendas Hospitality Trust (AHT). In the proposal, Ascott Reit will acquire all AHT units for S$1.0868 per unit, comprising S$0.0543 in cash and 0.7942 Ascott Reit-BT units issued at a price of S$1.30.

In view of this, I switched my tactic and purchased AHT instead at $1.04. This way, I would have a stake in Ascott in the near future, if the proposal goes through. 

Why did I not just buy Ascott directly at $1.30 then since I want to own a stake in it? Because with AHT at $1.04 and Ascott at $1.30, it is more expensive buying Ascott. Let me show you the calculations. For ease of calculating, I will exclude commissions. 

***

(A) Cost required to purchase 10,000 units of Ascott = $1.30 X 10,000

                                                                               = $13,000

This amount can be used to buy AHT = $13,000 / $1.04

                                                             = 12,500 units

After merger:

Number of Ascott Reit-BT units to receive =12,500 X 0.7942

                                                   = 9,927.50 units

Cash to receive = 12,500 X $0.0543

                      = $678.75

After merger, 12,500 AHT units will give 9,927.50 Ascott Reit-BT units and $678.75 of cash.

(B) The value if merger goes through = $678.75 + 9,927.50 X $1.30

                                      = $13,584.50

Difference in value [(B)-(A)] = $13,584.50 - $13,000

                               = $584.50

***

So a person will stand to 'gain' $584.50 by doing this. Or if the person already owns Ascott Reit, it may make sense to sell it and buy AHT and make this gain. 

The next question would like be why I purchased 6,800 units of AHT? It was a calculated move to get the least number of Ascott Reit-BT odd units. To minimise odd units, buy AHT at multiples of 6,800 (i.e. 6,800 / 13,600 / 20,400 / 27,200). The table below shows the number of units of Ascott Reit-BT and cash you can get by owning AHT. Do note that calculation excludes the policy of how they will handle the rounding up or down policy. Based on 6,800 and 13,600 units of AHT, it is like that one will get 5,401 and 10,801 units of Ascott Reit-BT respectively. 

Dividends received* in Jul 2019: $1083.95 (Singtel, Keppel Corp, Keppel DC, Singapore Post)

Total dividends received in 2019: $4,540.25

Average dividends per month: $378.35

Total Portfolio Market Value: $179,159.15

Notes:

Dividends are recognised after ex-dividend (xd) date.

Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month.

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds.