HK's Link to buy retail properties in Sydney for A$538m

Hong Kong

HONG KONG-LISTED real estate investor Link Real Estate Investment Trust has agreed to buy 50 per cent interests in three retail properties in downtown Sydney from Ipoh Property for a total of A$538.2 million (S$537.5 million).

Link - Asia's largest real estate investment trust - said on Sunday (Nov 7) that it had agreed to acquire the interests in three shopping malls located in the heart of Sydney's central business district - Queen Victoria Building, The Galeries and The Strand Arcade.

The acquisition will be funded by cash and debt, and Link's ratio of debt to total assets will increase to 21.4 per cent from 20.1 per cent, based on its financial position at the end of March 2021.

The deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2022.

Link Reit manages a portfolio valued at HK$207 billion (S$35.9 billion), with the majority being community shopping malls in Hong Kong.

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It also has properties in first-tier Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing.

In late 2019, Link said it would make its first purchase outside of Hong Kong and mainland China with a grade A office tower in Sydney for US$470 million.

The company then announced a deal to buy an office building in London as its second overseas venture in July last year. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG