CapitaLand Mall Trust to buy Bedok Mall for S$780m

QX179R SG

SINGAPORE: CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT), Singapore's largest shopping mall trust, will buy Bedok Mall from sponsor CapitaLand in a deal that values the mall at S$780 million.

The 222,500 square foot Bedok Mall, which opened in December 2013, is part of an integrated retail-residential-transport development at Bedok Town Centre that includes the 583-unit condominium Bedok Residences developed by CapitaLand.

The mall’s Basement 2 is directly linked to the Bedok MRT station, while the new air-conditioned Bedok bus interchange is integrated with the mall on Level 2. Bedok Mall's key tenants include Fairprice Finest, UNIQLO and Best Denki.

"The proposed acquisition of Bedok Mall complements CMT’s current portfolio of mainly suburban malls catering to the necessity shopping segment," Mr Wilson Tan, CEO of CapitaLand Mall Trust Management, said in a statement.

"It will increase CMT’s asset size from S$10.2 billion as at 31 March 2015 to about S$11 billion," he added.

CMT's properties include Tampines Mall, Junction 8, Funan DigitaLife Mall, IMM Building, Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction, Sembawang Shopping Centre, JCube, Clarke Quay and Raffles City Singapore, in which it has a 40 per cent interest.

CapitaLand Mall Trust Management is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of CapitaLand.

- CNA

Neutral-Thinker SG

Now the general rental rates at shopping malls would be even higher now that one more mall is being controlled by them.

Someone also told me it is their policy to do a major renovation at every mall every five years even though they do not look as though they need to be renovated. Don't know why this is so. Needless to say, rental rates would increase after that.