龔慧婷　(2011-07-30)

　　豐樹產業（Mapletree Investment）以188億港元（29億新元），向香港集團企業太古（Swire Pacific）收購其旗下的九龍塘大型購物商場和辦公樓綜合項目“又一城”（Festival Walk）。

豐樹有意推出以香港為焦點基金

　　豐樹產業昨天發表文告說，這是豐樹在香港買下的第一個商業房地產項目，它將成為其香港商業資產組合的“種子資產”（seed asset）。豐樹有意在接下的兩、三年，成立一個以香港為焦點的基金。

　　豐樹產業總裁邱運康指出，集團會繼續為這個新基金尋覓在香港商業、零售和辦公樓市場的投資機會。

　　豐樹是與其他機構投資者一起買下又一城。

　　上個月底也有傳聞指，豐樹打算以220億港元（35億新元）的價格，收購又一城。昨天公布的實際買價就比傳聞中的價格低。

又一城建於1998年，位於九龍塘，購物商場占七層樓，辦公樓占四層樓。（豐樹產業提供）

　　根據路透社的數據，這將是亞太區今年（到目前為止）第三大房地產收購活動。

　　又一城建於1998年建成，位於九龍塘，購物商場占七層樓，辦公樓占四層樓，屬於甲級辦公樓，租戶包括及澳盛銀行（ANZ）和保誠保險（Prudential Assurance）。

　　又一城的總建築樓麵超過120萬平方英尺。目前的零售商場租戶有220個，辦公樓租戶有五個，總租用率達100％，停車場有830個停車位。

　　它靠近香港城市大學，也麵向龐大的中國遊客市場。

　　去年，到這個購物商場的消費者達到近4000萬人次。商場內的國際品牌包括：H&M、I.T.、UNIQLO、Toys” R” Us、Marc by Marc Jacobs、Escada和Chanel等。

　　邱運康指出，這項收購對豐樹來說是一個重要的裏程碑，讓豐樹和其一起注資的夥伴，能順利打進香港的零售房地產市場。

　　由於又一城已100％租出去，當交易完成後，就能馬上為集團和其夥伴帶來良好和穩定的回報。交易估計會在8月底完成。

　　他表示，又一城的零售租金收入逐年增加，也顯示這個商場的素質。邱運康很有信心，在未來，這個勢頭能持續下去。

　　他透露，集團也打算尋找合適的資產提升機會，為這個商場進一步增值。

　　在六年前，豐樹通過了其物流房地產業務打進香港市場。隨著收購又一城，進一步拓展了在香港的足跡，並進一步擴大在亞洲主要市場的版圖。

　　新的收購項目也讓豐樹所管理的資產總額上漲了19.5％，達到178億元，其中41％是海外資產。豐樹產業是淡馬錫控股獨資擁有的子公司。

　　太古表示，脫售這項資產，將能讓太古占據有利位置，來繼續進行其主要的投資活動。除了房地產，太古的其他產業還包括航空和船運業務。

　　根據世邦魏理仕6月份的一份房地產報告，香港是繼紐約之後最昂貴的零售市場，其第一季的租金增加了46％。

　　據摩根大通（JP Morgan）的一份研究報告，又一城能提供的回報率低於5％。

　　其分析師認為，太古選擇現在脫售這個非核心資產，是很好的時機，因為他認為，這能協助太古減輕需融資的壓力。

　　據了解，太古將從售賣又一城的交易中，獲得16億3000萬港元的盈利。

Mapletree Investments has acquired a major retail and commercial complex in Hong Kong for HK$18.8 billion or about S$2.9 billion.

Mapletree, a wholly-owned property arm of investment company Temasek Holdings, said it is buying Festival Walk – located in Kowloon Tong on the Kowloon peninsula – from Swire Properties.

Festival Walk has a seven-storey shopping mall and a Grade-A office tower with a gross floor area of about 1.2 million square feet.

It is the Mapletree’s first commercial property purchase in Hong Kong, the company said in a statement.

The property will be a seed asset, forming part of a commercial property portfolio the company plans to build, under its Hong Kong-focused fund over the next two or three years.

Mapletree is buying the property together with other institutional investors as capital partners.

Mapletree group chief executive officer Hiew Yoon Khong said: “Given that Festival Walk is 100 per cent occupied with good quality tenants, upon completion, it will immediately provide good and stable returns to us and our capital partners.

“What is especially attractive about this asset is that the rental income has increased consistently year-on-year since inception, reflecting the quality of the mall.”

Festival Walk’s retail tenants include international brands H&M, UNIQLO, Toys “R” Us, Chanel, and Marks and Spencer, while office tenants include multinational corporations such as ANZ Bank and Prudential Assurance.

Mr Hiew said the acquisition reinforces the company’s strategy to scale up in key Asian markets.

“With this latest purchase, Mapletree’s total assets under management will grow a further 19.5% to about S$17.8 billion, of which 41% of it is constituted by overseas assets,” he added.

The company expects to complete the deal by end-August.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 29 Jul 2011

FCT to acquire Bedok Point for S$127m

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) will be acquiring Bedok Point from Woodlands Complex for S$127 million.

Woodlands Complex is a wholly owned subsidiary of Frasers Centrepoint Limited.

Frasers Centrepoint Limited is a subsidiary of Fraser & Neave Limited (F&N).

In statement released Thursday, F&N said the divestment is in line with its strategy of unlocking value from its commercial properties at the appropriate time to recycle value. It added that the net proceeds will be re-invested.

According to trust manager Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management (FCAM), it is in the process of determining an optimal debt and equity financing plan for the acquisition.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, it said “debt financing is expected to be in the form of a drawdown from loan facilities available to FCT while equity financing is expected to be in the form of a private placement”.

Bedok Point has a net lettable area of 80,985 square feet and an occupancy rate of 97.4 per cent. It will become the fifth mall in FCT’s portfolio.

“With this acquisition, the asset size of our portfolio is expected to grow to S$1.66 billion from S$1.53 billion,” said FCAM CEO Chew Tuan Chiong.

“In addition to the benefits from income diversification, a larger market share of the suburban retail mall market and an enlarged tenant base, our unitholders can expect to enjoy higher distribution per unit from this yield-accretive acquisition.”

The acquisition was negotiated on an arm’s length basis between FCAM and Frasers Centrepoint Limited’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Woodlands Complex. The purchase consideration is the average of two valuations by independent valuers Knight Frank and Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants.

At a media briefing, Mr Chew said the acquisition was timed in order to “wait for the new mall to stabilise”.

Bedok Mall was soft launched last December.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 29 Jul 2011