PETALING JAYA: Capitaland Malaysia Trust
(CLMT) has entered into agreements to purchase 91.8% of the total strata floor area of retail parcels in Queensbay Mall for RM990.5mil from CapitaLand Investment Ltd (CLI).
CapitaLand Malaysia REIT Management Sdn Bhd (CMRM), the manager of CMLT, said in a statement yesterday the total purchase consideration carried a discount of 1% to the independent valuation of RM1bil.
The statement also said CMRM would issue new CLMT units in a private placement exercise to raise gross proceeds of up to 50% of the total purchase consideration as a means of financing the acquisition, with the balance to be funded by bank loans.
As at Nov 3, CLI had a deemed interest of 39.3% in CLMT. CLI has stated its intention to take up its pro-rata entitlement included as part of the funding for the acquisition for CLMT, as support for the proposed private placement.
The acquisition, which is conditional upon the approval of CLMT’s non-interested unitholders at an EGM, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2023.
CMRM chairman Lui Chong Chee believed it is a good time for CLMT to expand its portfolio of shopping malls and ride on the recovery of Malaysia’s retail sector, in line with the country’s emergence from Covid-19.
“The proposed acquisition of Queensbay Mall will deepen CLMT’s presence in Penang, thus strengthening its foothold in the northern region of Malaysia, where it already owns Gurney Plaza and is targeting to complete the acquisition of its first logistics property,” he said.
CMRM chief executive Tan Choon Siang echoed the chairman’s upbeat mood about the acquisition, as Queensbay Mall currently receives an average of 1.1 million shoppers every month and shopper traffic is expected to improve further with the return of inbound tourists to Penang.
Tan said the proposed acquisition will add meaningful scale to CLMT and reflect its continuing efforts to enhance CLMT’s portfolio resilience and income diversification.
“Post-acquisition of Queensbay Mall and the logistics property in Sungai Jawi, CLMT will have seven properties in its enlarged portfolio, with an uplift of 28.2% in assets under management to RM4.9bil and an increase of 39.7% in net lettable area to 4.3 million sq ft,” he added.
Tan expects the proposed acquisition to contribute positively to CLMT’s earnings and to be yield accretive upon completion.
Headquartered and listed in Singapore, CLI is a real estate investment manager with S$130bil (RM439bil) of real estate assets under management as at end-September.
