Mapletree Investments has secured Merrill Lynch as the anchor tenant for its new office development, Mapletree Lighthouse, in HarbourFront.The entire building will house Merrill Lynch’s third global IT and operations hub, after Dublin and Jacksonville, USA.Mapletree is also considering listing a mixed REIT towards the end of next year.
Mapletree’s latest addition to its HarbourFront complex is a 6-storey, 200,000 square feet office structure.
Called the Mapletree Lighthouse, the S$130 million facility will be completed in the last quarter of 2008.
Its sole tenant is Merrill Lynch, which will house a global support centre for its private banking and international markets businesses here.
Raymundo Yu, Chairman, Asia Pacific Region, Merrill Lynch, said: “We are targeting 900 staff by the end of 2008. We recruit from SMU, we go to NUS, we go to Nanyang, of course we start here first, then we’ll go to the surrounding countries around Singapore.”
Mapletree is also planning to list a mixed REIT next year with an initial value of S$2.5 billion.
The REIT will comprise 2.5 million square feet of office and retail space, including VivoCity and the HarbourFront office buildings.
Tan Boon Leong, Chief Operating Officer, Mapletree Investments, said: “We plan to list a diversified commercial REIT, sometime next year, end of next year. Mapletree Lighthouse is a possible asset for injection, once its completed.”
Mapletree has other plans for the HarbourFront area.
A second office development is being planned on the site of the existing SPI Building and a residential development in HarbourFront is also in the works in the next 3 years.
The 60-40 joint venture between Mapletree and Keppel Land would feature a 300-unit, medium to high-end condominium units along the waterfront.
Source: Channel NewsAsia, 29 November 2006