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OUE Commercial Reit looks to acquire office assets in Sydney, Melbourne and London

Reit’s top priority is to strengthen its capital structure amid rising interest rates

 Kalpana Rashiwala

Kalpana Rashiwala

Published Mon, May 9, 2022 · 05:50 AM
    • Han Khim Siew, the CEO of the manager of OUE Commercial Reit, noted that the Singapore office market has bottomed and is picking up while the Reit's retail and hotel assets will benefit from the opening of the borders and loosening of Covid restrictions.
    • Han Khim Siew, the CEO of the manager of OUE Commercial Reit, noted that the Singapore office market has bottomed and is picking up while the Reit's retail and hotel assets will benefit from the opening of the borders and loosening of Covid restrictions. BT PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN

    JUST 1 out of the 7 assets in OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust’s (OUE C-Reit’s) portfolio is outside Singapore, but there are plans to acquire more overseas assets to grow the trust, with a focus on office assets in Sydney, Melbourne and London.

    “These are key gateway markets with a lot of liquidity for transactions in the S$200 million to S$400 million range; so you can enter and exit the market fairly quickly,” said Han Khim Siew, the chief executive officer of OUE Commercial Reit Management. “The UK and Australia also have very good market transparency and governance.”

    The trust is eyeing office properties in those 3 cities (with some supporting retail if any), but it is unlikely to go for pure retail assets, he added. “Hospitality assets, we will look at selectively.”

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