Frasers Property Selling 50% Stake In S$2b Singapore Tower To Korea’s NPS

Singapore-listed Frasers Property has agreed to sell a 50 percent stake in its namesake office building in the city’s central business district for cash compensation of S$442.7 million ($327.4 million) according to an announcement by the developer late last week.

The company controlled by Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is selling the half-stake in Frasers Tower, a commercial development at 182 Cecil Street in Singapore to Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) according to sources familiar with the deal who spoke with Mingtiandi.

The road to the transaction was made clear after a Frasers-sponsored trust gave up its right of first refusal on the shares in the asset, which measures 685,886 square feet (63,721 square metres) by net lettable area.

The transaction, which values the tower at S$1.96 billion, is the latest in a series of mega-deals for Singapore office properties over the last 18 months, as rising office rents and rebounding capital values continue to draw institutional investors to the Southeast Asian financial hub’s real estate market. Frasers sold the half-share in the 99-year leasehold property, which was completed last year, through an issue of new units in Aquamarine Star Trust, a Frasers subsidiary which owns the 38-storey tower.

The news of the NPS’ potential involvement was first reported by Singapore’s Business Times.

At the stated valuation, the NPS is paying the equivalent of S$2,865 per square foot of net lettable area in the building, which connects to Tanjong Pagar metro station and was 93 percent occupied as of 31 March 2019, according to documents provided by the company.

Ref: Property Report