Frasers Property shareholders raise questions on gearing and emerging market strategies 

FRASERS Property is placing a sharper focus on capital efficiency as the group seeks to reduce its gearing to a more comfortable range. 

Addressing several questions from shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday (Jan 16), group chief executive officer Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi said that the group has been aware since Covid-19 of the need to reduce the total amount of debt it has.

However, he recognised that real estate was a “lumpy” industry and the group “never expected interest rates to rise significantly in a short period of time”.