Hot stock: Isetan down 13.6% after plans to sell Wisma Atria space did not take off

SHARES of Isetan (Singapore) I15 fell at the open on Thursday (Dec 16) after the department store operator said it had not gathered enough interest from investors to purchase its space at the Wisma Atria shopping mall on Orchard Road.

The counter was down 13.6 per cent, or S$0.56, to trade at S$3.56 as at 9.11 am.

No married deals were recorded, according to ShareInvestor data.

As at 10 am, its shares have eased slightly to S$3.78, down 8.3 per cent or S$0.34, with 13,300 shares changing hands.

Isetan had in July started gathering expressions of interest from target investors for the property, but the exercise has since "run its course without yielding a positive outcome for the matter to proceed further at this juncture", it said on Wednesday (Dec 15).

Back in January, Isetan had disclosed that it was "exploring its options" regarding its space at Wisma Atria.

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Meanwhile, in a separate announcement on Thursday, the manager of Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust (Starhill Global Reit) said it "remains open to continue working with Isetan" to improve the space and explore acquisition opportunities.

The Reit's manager had in 2019 issued an expression of interest to potentially acquire Isetan's share in Wisma Atria, but it was not clear what became of the matter since.

At Thursday’s close, Isetan was trading at S$3.69,  down 10.44 per cent.

Meanwhile, units of Starhill Global Reit closed up 2.34 per cent at S$0.655.