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Acoustic Pinger designed to locate the “Black Box”
Posted: 25 July 2005
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Keppel Land Limited ( Keppel Land ) has unlocked the value in Bugis Junction through divestment of its stakes in Parco Bugis Junction and consolidation of its office portfolio with the acquisition of Bugis Junction Towers . These transactions will result in a profit of about $30 million.
CapitaMall Trust (CMT), through HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) Limited and subject to CMT’s unitholders’ and relevant authorities’ approvals, will acquire 100% of the retail mall (Parco Bugis Junction) from BCH Retail Investment Pte Ltd at $580.8 million.
BCH Retail Investment Pte Ltd is 80% owned by Bugis City Holdings Pte Ltd (BCH) and 20% owned by CapitaLand Retail (SI) Investment Pte Ltd (CapitaLand Retail). In the event the divestment of Parco Bugis Junction to CMT fails to go through, due to the inability to secure CMT unitholders’ approval, CapitaLand Retail will purchase the remaining equity stakes in Parco Bugis Junction.
Keppel Land holds 31% of BCH. Through participation agreements entered into with (inter alia) CapitaLand Limited (which were announced on 13 May 2005 ), its interests in BCH, including the economic interests under the participation, is 41.7%.
To further enhance the value of its office portfolio, Keppel Land , through Keppel Land Pr operties Pte Ltd, will acquire 100% shares of BCH Office Investment Pte Ltd based on an aggregate consideration of $49 million.
BCH Office Investment Pte Ltd owns the office tower ( Bugis Junction Towers ) and prior to the above acquisition is 75% owned by BCH and 25% owned by CapitaLand Retail.
“This is another step forward for us to unlock value in an asset with multi-ownership and consolidate our office assets. Bugis Junction Towers will add to our quality portfolio of premier office developments, enhancing our divestment options,” said Mr Tan Swee Yiow, Director, Singapore/Commercial, Keppel Land .
Strategically located above an MRT station, the 15-storey almost fully occupied Bugis Junction Towers has a net lettable area of 246,020 sq ft.
After the divestment of the retail and office assets, the only asset held by BCH through BCH Hotel Investment Pte Ltd is the hotel (InterContinental Singapore), in which it has a 90% stake. The other 10% stake is held by Inter-Continental Hotel Investment (S) Pte Ltd. The intention of BCH is to value-add or strengthen the positioning of the Hotel before exploring possible divestment options.
The latest transactions are not expected to have any significant impact on the net tangible asset per share of Keppel Land for the year ending 31 December 2005 . The above mentioned profit of $30 million is arrived at after taking into consideration transaction costs and the provision for a writedown of BCH’s hotel asset.
About Keppel Land
Keppel Land is one of the largest listed property companies by total assets on the Singapore Exchange. Its quality portfolio of investment-grade offices, premier residential properties and integrated resorts are geographically diversified in Asia including Singapore , China , Thailand , Vietnam , India , Indonesia , Hongkong , Japan , South Korea , Malaysia , Philippines and Myanmar .
Keppel Land is a joint developer of One Raffles Quay (ORQ), an office development of 1.3 million square feet at Singapore ’s new downtown at Marina South. The other partners are Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hongkong Land . When completed in 2006, One Raffles Quay will be one of the largest office developments in Asia .
The ORQ consortium has recently been awarded the tender for the Business and Financial Centre site. The strategic location of this 3.55-ha site at the New Downtown opens up to prime views of Marina Bay and the proposed Central Open Space.
The upcoming Integrated Resort in the vicinity will further complement this project and enhance its position as a global business and financial hub.
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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