Mapletree Investments hopes to list two REITs soon

Mapletree Investments, the real estate arm of Temasek Holdings, has said it hopes to list two real estate investment trusts (REITs) soon.

One of them is an industrial REIT with S$1.73 billion in assets to be listed on the Singapore Exchange by the end of the year.

These plans were revealed at the sidelines of Mapletree’s results briefing on Wednesday.

Mapletree Investments has seen its net profit surge 87 per cent on-year to nearly S$400 million in financial year 2009.

It attributed the increase to new developments and revaluation gains from its existing properties.

Despite the tough economic conditions last year, Mapletree Investments said revenue was up by 2 per cent to S$453.5 million in the year.

Wong Mun Hoong, group chief financial officer, Mapletree, said: “We have shown improved performance and grown our assets, local and equity perspective from S$2.5 billion to over S$5 billion now. This is without any additional contribution from our shareholders.”

Over the last four years, the group has grown its real estate assets by almost three times to S$12.9 billion in financial year 2009.

The company, which recently launched its Mapletree Business City, said it is optimistic about growth in the year ahead.

It hopes to list an industrial REIT this year.

Another REIT to be listed is Mapletree Commercial Trust, whose portfolio includes VivoCity.

Mr Wong said: “We are still going through the portfolio and the more assets we put into it, of course it will be larger. But we are now at the stage of thinking of having it as a retail and office REIT…VivoCity alone is worth about S$2 billion, so it will be slightly larger than that. “

Mapletree Investments said it is also considering getting listed in the near future.

Mr Wong said, “At an appropriate time, we will discuss with our board and our shareholders, and whether it is appropriate for us to be listed on the stock exchange.”

Additionally, it hopes to roll out two private funds within two years, focusing on China and Vietnam.

The China-focused fund expects to invest in a wide range of property assets, while the Vietnam fund already has a pipeline of commercial and residential projects.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 30 Jun 2010