Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) has sold a suburban shopping centre, Changi City Point, in Singapore’s east for S$338m (€230m) to an unnamed buyer.
Frasers Asset Management, the manager of FCT, said the asset was sold at 4% above the independent valuation of S$325m on 31 July 2023 and would generate an estimated capital gain of S$20m.
Changi City Point, which was completed in 2011, sits on land leased from Jurong Town Corporation for 60 years from 2009.
Richard Ng, CEO of Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management, said the divestment was part of the trust’s strategic portfolio review to strengthen FCT’s portfolio resilience in line with its long-term objective to create value for FCT’s unitholders.
Ng said the sale proceeds would reduce the trust’s gearing from 40.2% to 37.1% and reduce the average cost of borrowings for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2022.
“On the portfolio performance attributes, following the divestment, we expect uplifts in committed occupancy rate, average gross rent per square foot, tenants’ sales per square foot and the average remaining lease tenure of the retail portfolio,” Ng said.
“These put FCT in a strong position to focus on our core suburban retail strategy going forward,” he added.
Upon completion of the divestment, expected in November, FCT’s retail portfolio will comprise nine retail properties, all located in the suburban regions of Singapore.
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