Tag Archives: Singapore REITS

The two Singaporean real estate funds to buy now

By Cris Sholto Heaton

Back in March, I wrote about the outstanding opportunities the global panic was creating in the Singapore Reit sector: It’s time to get back into property – Asian property.

At the time, fears that the credit crunch would make it impossible for many of them to refinance had hammered the sector to the point where almost every Reit sported a double-digit yield. This looked like an outstanding opportunity: the best of the bunch were very attractive income plays, with the bonus of the inflation protection that comes through owning real estate.

This turned out to be one of my better short-term calls. The sector is up an average 88% since, beating the local Straits Times Index (80%) and thrashing the FTSE (30%). I know from my emails that some of you bought into the sector Continue reading

ARA buys Suntec Convention Centre in $235m deal

ARA Asset Management finally has a full house in its hand of cards – the real estate fund management firm added the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre to its portfolio of Suntec-brand properties on Saturday.

ARA, an affiliate of Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong group, sealed the $235 million deal for the convention centre with Suntec City Development Pte Ltd, of which Mr Li is an indirect shareholder. This deal will add one million square feet of space to ARA’s portfolio.

With this acquisition, ARA will own both the convention centre as well as most of the office and mall space in Suntec City, come the finalisation of the deal in October. The office and mall spaces are owned by Suntec Reit, which is managed by ARA.

The convention centre, however, will be owned separately under the ARA Harmony Fund which was created by ARA for this purpose. Continue reading