Spore's CapitaLand in $8 bn deal, creates Asia's top property group
Singapore: Singapore's CapitaLand said Monday it has agreed to buy two real estate holding firms in a $8.1 billion deal that will create Asia's biggest property group with assets in dozens of countries.
Under the agreement, CapitaLand will acquire two units from a subsidiary of state investment firm Temasek. If approved, the new entity will have assets under management of more than 116 billion Singapore dollars, including businesses, industrial parks, hotels, commercial, retail and residential properties in over 30 countries.
The agreement is subject to approval by CapitaLand's independent shareholders at a meeting in the first half of this year, the group said in a statement.
The company is buying the real estate units from Temasek subsidiary Ascendas-Singbridge Group, which develops towns, industrial parks, offices, hotels and warehouses across the world. The deal comes as new CapitaLand president and group chief executive Lee Chee Koon, who took over in September, seeks to steer the company deeper into new markets.
"Geographically, the deal strengthens CapitaLand's presence in our core markets of Singapore and China, while adding meaningful scale in India, US and Europe," he said.
Payment to Temasek will be in cash and stocks. Once the transaction closes, Temasek's ownership of CapitaLand will increase to about 51.0 per cent from approximately 40.8 per cent. Founded in 1974, Temasek is one of Singapore's two main investment vehicles. It had a global portfolio worth Sg 308 billion as of March 31, 2018.
In addition, CapitaLand said the deal will give it immediate scale and capabilities in the logistics/business park sector with over 100 properties in logistics/business parks and data centres. In India, ASB has built up a S$2.6 billion AUM exposure in India's business space sector and launched a-iTrust as an established vehicle to own income-producing business space assets in India. ASB also expanded its footprint in the US last year, snapping up a portfolio of 33 suburban office assets in Portland, Raleigh and San Diego.
