CBRE Global Investors has sold a 13-storey office block in the heart of Singapore’s central business district for $172m (£100m) — less than three years after it paid just $148m (£86m) for the property.
Anson House was bought by Frankfurt-based fund manager SEB which paid slightly less than the $180m (£105m) guide price posted earlier this year when the 76,362sq ft building first went on the market. The acquisition was made on behalf of two unnamed Asian real estate funds.
Built in 1998 and renovated 15 years later, the building is situated on the corner of Anson Road and Bernam Street and boasts one of the most sought-after addresses in central Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar district. Its two anchor tenants are steel and mining conglomerate ArcelorMittal and United Technologies.
“Following last year’s successful sale of the Springleaf Tower office building, we view this project as another opportunity to invest in one of Singapore’s prime locations,” commented Choy-Soon Chua, the member responsible for Asia at SEB Asset Management.
He said he was convinced that Anson House would benefit from the demand for office space in central locations. “It also enables us to acquire a flexible, modern, multi-tenant property with capital appreciation potential for our investors,” he added.
Built on a 99-year leased plot the original joint venture developers, former Singapore Land chairman SP Tao and his Indonesian partner Mackmoor Pte Ltd, paid $53m (£40m) for the land. This is the fifth time their office block has changed hands in the past eight years.
CBRE Global Investorsbought the property in 2011 from a private investor, who had previously purchased it for $85m (£49m) two years earlier from a fund managed by Australia’s Macquarie Bank. The sale represented a heavy loss for the bank which paid $129.5m (£75) in 2007 when it acquired Anson House from GE Real Estate. The US financial services company had bought the office block the preceding year for $75m (£44m) from its developers.
In addition to Anson House, SEB’s real estate holdings in the Asian republic include 77 Robinson Road and a 60 per cent stake in the Chinatown Point shopping mall.
In 2013 it off loaded 12 floors it owned within Springleaf Tower, further along Anson Road. SEB also used to co-own 79 Anson Road with Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Board. The duo divested their stakes in the building to United Engineers late in 2012 for $410m (£239m). Earlier that year, SEB sold its StarHub Green logistics warehouse in Ubi Avenue for $215m (£125m) to Blackstone Group.
The Anson House sale is the latest in what has become a steady rise in office transaction for Singapore. More than $1.2bn (£700m) of office private sector investment deals were signed off in the second quarter of this year. These include the sale of Equity Plaza at $550m (£320m), Prudential Tower for $512m (£298m), Cecil House for $110m (£64m) and the 14th floor of Samsung Hub for an undisclosed sum.
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