Hongkong Land shares up 5% on S$1.45 billion sale of MBFC stake

[SINGAPORE] Shares of Hongkong Land rose as much as 5 per cent in intraday trading on Thursday (Dec 11), following news of its S$1.45 billion sale of its stake in Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 3 to Keppel Reit.

At 2.40pm, the counter was 5 per cent or US$0.33 higher at US$6.90, with 4.79 million shares transacted.

On Thursday morning, Keppel Reit announced in a bourse filing that it had agreed to acquire an additional one-third interest in the MBFC asset from Sageland, which is a subsidiary of Hongkong Land.

Upon completion of the deal, expected on Dec 31, Keppel Reit’s interest in the property will increase to two-thirds.

To fund the acquisition, the Reit launched an underwritten non-renounceable preferential offering to raise gross proceeds of around S$886.3 million. About S$875.6 million, or 98.8 per cent of the gross proceeds, will be used to partially finance the acquisition.

MBFC was originally jointly developed by a consortium comprising Hongkong Land, Keppel Land and Cheung Kong.

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The Business Times reached out to Hongkong Land for more details on the rationale of its divestment. Hongkong Land responded that it will make an announcement soon.