CapitaMall Trust Management (CMT) has entered into an agreement to buy Iluma shopping mall in the Bugis area.
It is set to pay Jack Investments S$295 million for the property.
The mall has a net lettable area of over 185,000 square feet and has an occupancy rate of nearly 84 per cent.
CMT expects the acquisition to strengthen its foothold in the downtown core of Singapore.
It currently owns four prime retail assets in the zone.
They comprise Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction, Raffles City (through its 40 per cent interest in RCS Trust) and Funan DigitaLife Mall.
CMT believes its acquisition of Iluma will allow the creation of synergies due to its strategic location next to Bugis Junction.
This could be through further integration between both properties.
For example, the second level of the Iluma is directly connected via an overhead link bridge to Bugis Junction.
Internal sources of funds will be be used to finance the mall acquisition, which is expected to be complete by April 2011.
CapitaMall is part of Singapore’s CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s largest property firm.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 28 Feb 2011