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Gong xi fa cai! As the Year of the Fire Horse opens, it would seem appropriate that prized assets are being led out of the stable, for a showing to investors gearing up to take advantage of lower financing costs.
The owners of One Raffles Place are looking for a buyer for the office complex, with a price tag of around S$2.4 billion, Kalpana Rashiwala reports. The news comes about a month after Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and Singapore’s Temasek were said to be mulling a sale of Marina One’s office and retail components, with an asking price in the S$5 billion to S$6 billion range.
OUE Reit owns most of One Raffles Place, with an effective interest of just under 68 per cent. UOB, UOL Group and Khattar Holdings also hold stakes in the development, which houses two office towers and a six-level retail podium.
Whether a deal materialises remains to be seen. As Kalpana spells out, there may be a viable redevelopment angle to the sale, or at the least, potential for a thorough refurbishment of the ‘80s era buildings.
In the commercial real estate realm, improving sentiment, capital accumulation and falling interest rates are laying the ground for a year of increased deal activity.
One mega-deal in particular has captivated the attention of market watchers: the possible merger of CapitaLand and Mapletree. The prospect of a S$200 billion real estate behemoth makes for a dazzling headline, Jude Chan writes, but the reality for shareholders could be far less glamorous.
Taking the cue from CapitaLand Investments group CEO Lee Chee Koon’s “dating” metaphor, Jude says this particular marriage could end up “more like a forced union of two very different souls”.
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