Singapore – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“ Mapletree”) and Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c) (“Arcapita”) today announced the completion of agreements to become joint venture partners, in Mapletree Industrial Trust (“MIT”), a private real estate fund, which was set up to hold the S$1.71 billion portfolio of high-rise, ready-built industrial properties acquired from JTC Corporation (“JTC”). Arcapita will hold a 56.5% stake in MIT, while Mapletree will hold a 25.1% stake. The balance will be held by Mapletree Industrial Fund (“MIF”), a pan-Asian private real estate industrial fund sponsored by Mapletree.
The acquisition of JTC’s industrial property portfolio, which was announced in April, has now been completed. The properties, which comprise 39 blocks of flatted factories, 12 amenity centres, six stack-up and one ramp-up buildings, three multi-tenanted business park buildings (the Synergy & the Strategy at the International Business Park and the Signature at the Changi Business Park) and one warehouse building, have been officially transferred to MIT on 1 July 2008. Mapletree’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Mapletree Industrial Fund Management Pte Ltd, will manage the properties.
Mr Hiew Yoon Khong, CEO of Mapletree said, “We are pleased to have Arcapita as our joint venture partner in MIT, which is evidence of the support for our view that this is a high quality portfolio of real estate. We will explore the possibility of listing this portfolio as a REIT in due course, possibly in combination with other Mapletree industrial assets.”
Mr Atif A. Abdulmalik, CEO of Arcapita, added “We are very pleased to have formed this joint venture with Mapletree, one of Asia’s leading real estate companies. This is our first venture with Mapletree and we look forward to more partnerships in Singapore and across Asia. The acquisition of this JTC portfolio, given its scale and quality, is an excellent start for Arcapita’s Singapore office as we seek to increase our investments and presence across Asia.”
The Singapore real estate market benefits from its established position as a hub in the rapidly growing region of South-East Asia. The properties in the portfolio are attractive and well-diversified in terms of tenancy, location and asset type, and are well placed to continue to perform strongly.
