Frasers Centrepoint buys 4 business parks in the UK

FRASERS Centrepoint Limited (FCL) said on Monday that it has agreed to buy four business parks in the United Kingdom for about £686 million (S$1.20 billion), subject to post-completion adjustment.

The puchase comprises 4.9 million square feet of built area across four freehold business park assets - Winnersh Triangle, Reading; Chineham Park, Basingstoke; Watchmoor Park, Camberley and Hillington Park, Glasgow.

They were acquired by Frasers' subsidiary, Frasers Property International Pte Ltd from subsidiaries of a fund or account managed by Oaktree Capital Management, LP.

Frasers Property has also entered into a conditional agreement to acquire another business park, Maxis, Bracknell. This is subject to conditions relating to, inter alia, net operating yield and Maxis achieving an occupancy of at least 95 per cent.

Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, group chief executive officer of FCL, said the acquisition was in line with the group's strategy to grow overseas presence and recurring income sources.

"The group has been in the UK and Europe for over 15 years, and we now extend our presence from the residential, hospitality, industrial and logistics sectors to include the commercial and business park sector."

Post acquisition, on a pro forma basis, the group will have around S$4.2 billion of assets in the UK and Europe, and commercial properties as a proportion of FCL's S$26.8 billion of total assets will increase to around 30 per cent.

"We can also potentially benefit from the "network effect", given that we are already in the industrial, logistics, commercial and business park sectors in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore and Thailand," Mr Sirivadhanabhakdi added.