• Frasers Property brings The Centrepoint into its fold  
• Orchard Road deals   
• Why OUE Reit should be privatised  
• CDL embarks on a strategic review  

Last week saw a flurry of Singapore deal activity, in an environment of improving market sentiment. Over the weekend, the climate changed as US President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran brought a new war and fresh uncertainty into markets. Oil prices surged, aviation flew into chaos, shipping channels closed, supply chains began recalculating.  

Faced with the volatility that has become a given in the new world (dis)order, investors sought refuge in gold. Could Singapore real estate continue to provide a safe haven?

Several assets changed hands or were put on the market in the past week. 

Frasers Property bought out the rear block of The Centrepoint for S$391.9 million, about 6 per cent under the guide price of S$418 million cited for the prime Orchard Road site, Chong Xin Wei reports. 

Frasers owns almost all of the freehold front block of the development, which houses The Centrepoint mall. Before the collective sale, it held about half (in strata value) of the leasehold rear block comprising 66 apartments as well as retail units. Frasers also owns 51 Cuppage Road, a neighbouring 10-storey office building directly connected to The Centrepoint via a link-bridge. Amalgamating the sites would pave the way for a major redevelopment in the area, which would also allow Frasers to tap government incentives for the project. 

Soon Su Lin, chief executive of Frasers Property Singapore, said the move “gives us greater flexibility to unlock the site’s long-term potential, including assessing broader rejuvenation plans for the area”. 

Asset owners and investors are banking on a long-hoped-for rejuvenation of a dense retail stretch where the performance of different malls has been uneven. Several properties have been through major asset enhancement exercises and reconfigured facades and floor space, while others are little changed and ripe for a revamp.

A refresh of Singapore’s prime shopping belt is on the horizon, with the government announcing plans for a redevelopment planned at Emerald Hill, on the site of the former Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. A mixed development is envisioned for the historic school site, with “unique hotel concepts, lifestyle offerings and community and public spaces”. 

A major new event space is also shaping up on Grange Road, where a 3,000-capacity venue is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. The project is a joint venture between concert promoter Live Nation and Lendlease Global Commercial Reit.

Close to the Grange Road event space stands the ageing Orchard Shopping Centre, where owners are in the process of starting a collective sale of the freehold site. The Goh family behind Ossia International has acquired an 18-unit bloc of strata-titled retail units at Orchard Shopping Centre for S$73 million, sold by JLL affiliate LaSalle Investment Management. The deal was done at about 19 per cent lower than the previous asking price of S$90 million, when the property was marketed in 2022. Chong Xin Wei has the story.

Elsewhere, commercial assets continue to draw attention. An entity linked to Altallo Asset Management has entered into a put and call option agreement for the purchase of 158 Cecil Street for S$175 million, Kalpana Rashiwala reports. The transacted price is some 27 per cent lower than the S$240 million that an entity linked to the late Denis Jen – a Singapore citizen known for investing in shopping centres in Australia – paid for the Singapore office block in 2015. 

In line with a rise in land values following strong results at last year’s government land sales, the authorities have raised land betterment charge (LBC) rates in their latest half-yearly update. Kalpana has the details. LBC rates rose the most – by 23 per cent – for non-landed residential development in the Bedok South sector. The LBC is a tax that developers pay for enhanced use of land and can substantially swell the development cost for a project. 

For better cost certainty, the government has rolled out a new online tool that gives an early estimate of LBC charges payable on a development proposal, Ry-Anne Lim reports. The tool, to be integrated in the OneMap portal, will automatically compute the estimated LBC from set parameters and also allow for scenario testing under various development options. 

Also up for sale:
Serenity Park condo in Yio Chu Kang put on the market at S$505 million
Tan Boon Liat Building in Outram up for sale again at lower S$1 billion reserve price
Receivers put one-seventh stake in Cheong family’s Oxley Rise mansion on the block

The possible sale of One Raffles Place, a prime CBD office property mostly owned by OUE Reit, was exciting news for unitholders of the real estate investment trust (Reit). And with softer interest rates and strong fundamentals supporting the Grade A office market, conditions appear supportive of a successful sale. 

Unitholders could enjoy a one-off boost in distribution per unit (DPU), should the trust distribute some of the proceeds from selling the asset. Still, OUE Reit may struggle to replace One Raffles Place with a CBD office asset of similar quality at a price that will substantially boost DPU. The divestment will shrink OUE Reit’s portfolio substantially and erode DPU, Leslie Yee points out.  

OUE Reit trades substantially below its net asset value per unit of S$0.56 as at end-2025, and with total assets of S$5.6 billion as at end-2025, lacks scale in the Singapore Reit universe.

A sale of One Raffles Place would send a clear signal to investors that its discount to book value is unwarranted. Leslie argues that what can subsequently be optimal for OUE Reit’s investors is either for the trust to sell the remaining assets, return cash to unitholders and be wound up; or for the trust to be privatised at or above book value. Read his views in The Level Ground.

A strategic review is underway at City Developments Ltd (CDL), with a global advisory firm engaged to take a hard look at the group’s worldwide portfolio, capital allocation and operations. Group CEO Sherman Kwek told analysts and media at an earnings briefing on Feb 27 that CDL is “actively reviewing our growth strategy, portfolio structures and capital allocation priorities” and planned to push on with capital recycling plans. It expects to announce the outcome of the review by June this year.

For a start, CDL is looking to shed assets in its UK development legacy portfolio, which now holds five properties with a total carrying value of about S$800 million as at end-December 2025. Chong Xin Wei reports. 

CDL posted a net profit of S$538.5 million for the second-half ended Dec 31, 2025, rising more than four times from the year-ago period. This more than trebled the group’s full-year earnings to S$629.7 million. While strong home sales boosted revenue, a S$473 million gain from the sale of its stake in South Beach significantly lifted the bottom line. 

In Malaysia, Sunway Bhd said it’s prepared to walk away from its offer to acquire IJM Corp if the builder’s shareholders do not accept the conglomerate’s deal by the Apr 6 deadline, founder Jeffrey Cheah told reporters.

Sunway had in January offered to buy its smaller rival for RM11 billion (S$3.6 billion), a move that would create the largest property and construction conglomerate in Malaysia. The offer has since drawn political scrutiny over concerns that it could dilute both the equity interests of the government and the rights of the nation’s indigenous majority, as reported by Bloomberg.

Catch up on last week’s earnings announcements here.

Got a tip or a story to share, or feedback on this newsletter? Let me know at mich@sph.com.sg