Singapore’s Frasers in talks to sell premium office property

SGX-listed Frasers Property has been in discussions with certain parties who have expressed interest in buying Frasers Tower at 182 Cecil Street in Singapore, according to a disclosure to the Singapore Exchange. Frasers Property issued the disclosure following a Bloomberg query on the acquisition talks related to the 38-storey Premium Grade A office development. “There is no certainty that any transaction would result from such discussions,” the company disclosed.

The company said it will continually review opportunities to enhance shareholder value, including potential opportunities to collaborate with new investors and divest its interest in projects. “In the course of such review, we may from time to time enter into discussions with parties for potential investments in or divestment of our interest in our projects or assets,” it added. Located on Cecil Street in the CBD, Frasers Tower is a 38-storey Grade A office tower with column-free and highly efficient rectilinear floor plates, and an adjacent three-storey cascading retail podium. It has a total net lettable area of 663,000 square foot.

In September 2018, Frasers Property bagged a US $1.2 billion syndicated green loan for the development of the property. The loan was from a syndicate of six banks: BNP Paribas, ING Bank, Malayan Banking Berhad, OCBC, and UOB. Last month, Frasers Property and its real estate investment trust (Reit) Frasers Centrepoint Trust announced that they were raising their stakes in PGIM Real Estate Asia Retail Fund. PGIM Real Estate Retail Fund is the latest fund of PGIM Real Estate, the largest non-listed retail mall fund in Singapore. PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment business of the US $1.2 trillion global investment manager PGIM.

According to the filing, Frasers Property is acquiring a 29.99% stake in PGIM Real Estate Asia Retail Fund for around S$601.5 million (US $446 million) while its wholly owned subsidiary Frasers Property Investments (Bermuda) is raising its stake to around 42.82% by acquiring 158,145 shares.

Source: Deal Street Asia