Wisma AmanahRaya sold for RM78mil

PETALING JAYA: Amanahraya Real Estate Investment Trust (Amanahraya REIT) is planning to sell Wisma AmanahRaya in Kuala Lumpur for RM78mil to AmanahRaya Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Annex Sentral Sdn Bhd.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the fund said it had entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Annex Sentral for the proposed disposal of the 15-storey building on Tuesdday.

Amanahraya REIT said the rationale for the disposal was because there was limited upside potential to the future value of the property.

The building is currently being tenanted by AmanahRaya Bhd, and the tenancy agreement will expire on Aug 16 next year.

“The manager believes that it would be difficult to find a new tenant considering that the property is an approximately a 48-year-old building with old facilities,” it said.

Amanahraya REIT has invested about RM68mil to purchase the Wisma AmanahRaya building, which it bough on Feb 26, 2007.

With the disposal if the building, the fund is expected to pocket about RM6.02mil in a one-off net realised gain as it would need to carry out certain replacement and repairs exercise on the property, which would cost about RM3.98mil.

The fund said it is planning to use the proceeds from the proposed disposal to acquire new properties.

“In the event the manager fails to acquire any new properties within the 12 months, the manager plans to utilise the proceeds from the disposal to settle part of its borrowings,” it said.