Frasers Centrepoint to buy additional 24.5% stake in retail mall NEX (updated)

Frasers Centrepoint Trust

25/01/2024 24:42

(Adds more details of the acquisition from paragraph 2 to 6)
       SINGAPORE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Singapore retail real
estate investment trust Frasers Centrepoint Trust  FCRT.SI  said
on Thursday it is acquiring an additional 24.5% effective
interest in retail mall NEX for S$523.1 million ($390.4
million).
    "The acquisition follows from our initial acquisition of
25.5% in NEX in February 2023 and will raise FCT’s effective
interest to 50.0% on completion," FCT's Chief Executive Officer
Richard Ng said in a statement.
    The acquisition values the whole of NEX, the largest
suburban mall in the northeast of Singapore by net lettable
area, at S$2.13 billion, according to the statement. 
    "This acquisition reinforces our focus and leadership
position in the Singapore prime suburban retail market," Ng
said. "The increased stake in NEX will further diversify FCT’s
income base." 
    FCT said it intends to finance the acquisition via net
proceeds from a proposed private placement of S$200 million
launched on Thursday, and from debt financing.
    Bank of America  BAC.N , DBS  DBSM.SI , OCBC  OCBC.SI , UOB
 UOBH.SI  and Maybank  MBBM.KL  are the underwriters for the
private placement, according to a separate term sheet on
Thursday.
($1 = 1.3398 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Scott Murdoch in
Sydney; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Lincoln Feast.)
 ((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))