INVESTOR AND MEDIA RELATIONS The Manager proactively engages the investment community with timely and transparent communication. In 2024, the Manager focused its communication efforts on the change in its management team, the progress of its Recapitalisation Plan, as well as a rally to Unitholders to continue to submit their tax forms in order to minimise MUST’s withholding tax burden. The Manager’s engagement efforts extended across a diverse range of stakeholders, including analysts, journalists, financial bloggers, relationship managers, brokers, trading representatives, institutional and high-net-worth investors, as well as retail Unitholders. In all, the Manager engaged with more than 850 investors, media representatives and analysts, compared to 2,060 in 2023. The year-on-year decrease can be attributed to the transition in management team, as the incoming team took time to settle in and consolidate its going-forward strategy. In addition, in 2023, there were also significantly more engagement efforts organised to address the investment community’s concerns over MUST’s financial covenant breach as well as to secure Unitholders’ support for the Recapitalisation Plan. NEW MANAGEMENT ONBOARD In March 2024, the Manager announced the appointment of a new management team led by CEO and CIO Mr John Casasante. Mr Casasante joined MUST from DWS, where he served as Regional Director, Real Estate Asset Management Alternatives and Real Estate Assets, overseeing a significant real estate portfolio in western U.S. with a net asset value of US$15 billion across industrial and office properties. In addition, Mr Mushtaque Ali was appointed CFO. Prior to this, he served as Head of Finance, Singapore and Southeast Asia, at Manulife Investment Management. To introduce the new management team to the investment community in March, one-on-one calls were conducted with analysts, media and institutional investors to explain the management changes. The new management team also attended MUST’s AGM in April to mingle and interact with investors. After the new management team took full helm in June 2024, it also engaged analysts as well as institutional and retail investors in dedicated one-on-one meetings, both in-person and virtually, to understand and assuage their concerns and share their strategy. The team also engaged trading representatives at a CGS International lunch webinar in August and retail investors at a Phillip Securities Corporate Insights event in November. Mr Casasante, who is based in the U.S. to oversee the operational performance of MUST’s portfolio, visits Singapore quarterly to meet with staff and other stakeholders. Since coming onboard, the new management team has been laser focused on strengthening MUST’s portfolio performance through its three-pronged strategy of Stabilisation, Recovery, and Growth. With the Sponsor’s support and various steps taken to execute the Stabilisation phase in 2024, the emphasis will shift towards Recovery and Growth in 2025 and beyond to ensure MUST’s long-term value creation for Unitholders. PROGRESS OF MUST’S RECAPITALISATION PLAN During the year, the Manager provided regular updates to Unitholders on its progress in its execution of the Recapitalisation Plan. In October 2024, the Manager completed the divestment of Capitol for a net consideration of approximately US$110 million and used its net sales proceeds and existing cash to repay all its US$130.7 million loans due in 2025. The investment community responded with questions about the property’s valuation, the U.S. office transaction climate, the valuations of comparable assets in the submarket, as well as other imminent dispositions to come. The Manager addressed these concerns from analysts, media and investors through platforms such as briefings, one-on-one calls and meetings, retail newsletter blasts, LinkedIn as well as prompt responses to email queries. A second asset sale followed in February 2025. Plaza was divested for a net consideration of approximately US$40 million and net proceeds from the sale were used to pay down 20% of MUST’s 2026 debts, further mitigating liquidity risk. The Manager communicated that it remains in divestment discussions on additional properties that will contribute towards its plan of making a full repayment of its 2026 debts totalling US$203.9 million by June 2025. Upon repayment of the 2026 debts, the Manager plans to leverage the Sponsor’s global real estate platform to focus on growth opportunities through accretive acquisitions to deliver sustained value to Unitholders. MINIMISING MUST’S WITHHOLDING TAX BURDEN While distributions to Unitholders are halted until end-2025 pursuant to the Recapitalisation Plan, cross-border interest income will continue to be received by MUST's Singapore subsidiaries from the U.S. subsidiaries. However, as the interest income is not paid out to Unitholders as part of the half-yearly distributions, MUST would have to bear the burden of withholding tax based on the interest income allocable to Unitholders who fail to submit a valid tax form, and this would adversely impact MUST's retained income. There was therefore an urgency for all Unitholders to continue to submit their tax forms even in the absence of distributions. ANNUAL REPORT 2024 | 55
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