SEVERAL shipping trusts will offer shares in Singapore in coming months as ship owners and operators seek alternative sources of financing, adding to three existing trusts listed in the city-state, a KPMG official said on Tuesday.

'In the next few months or so, we are likely to see more shipping trusts listed on the Singapore Exchange,' KPMG executive director Leonard Ong told a maritime conference in Singapore.

The accounting firm was tax advisor for the initial public offerings (IPOs) of two of Singapore's three listed shipping trusts.

Mr Ong said the attractions of injecting vessels into a shipping trust and listing it in the city-state included zero taxation on income earned from leasing vessels. Dividends paid to shareholders are also tax-exempt.

He declined to identify the companies involved, citing client confidentiality, but said many of the planned IPOs are 'work in progress'.

Shipping trusts buy and lease vessels for as long as 10 years in return for a steady stream of payment from shipping companies, which is then paid to unitholders as dividends.

Of Singapore's three listed shipping trusts, the first Pacific Shipping Trust made its stock market debut in May last year while First Ship Lease Trust and Rickmers Maritime floated their shares this year.

Mr Ong said the squeeze in global credit markets has led to a slowdown in capital raising in Singapore, but that was counter balanced by Islamic funds coming into the region. -- REUTERS