Katong Mall changing hands at $248m

A FORMER CapitaLand executive has stitched together a $247.55 million deal to snap up Katong Mall.

Mr Pua Seck Guan set up a private trust called Perennial Katong Retail Trust to buy the mall from Tuan Sing Holdings’ Golden Cape Investment. The investors are no more than six parties, including corporate and institutional investors and Mr Pua.

The seven-storey centre, in a fairly affluent neighbourhood at the junction of East Coast and Joo Chiat roads, will undergo a $55 million revamp lasting 12 to 15 months.

This will transform it into a lifestyle and food and beverage hub, said Mr Pua, who was chief executive of CapitaLand Retail before stepping down a year ago.

Tuan Sing bought the mall en bloc for $219 million last July.

Mr Pua said this deal started about three weeks ago when ’some one approached me’.

‘After pumping in the upgrading cost, the returns can be attractive,’ he said, adding that the expected net property yield after completion will be about 6 per cent to 8 per cent.

Its gross floor area will be relatively unchanged at 282,000 sq ft after redevelopment works.

But its net lettable area will rise from 172,170 sq ft to over 206,000 sq ft, said a statement from Perennial Real Estate.

The revamp will add 99 more carpark spaces to make a total of 278. These will be on basements two and three. About 30,000 sq ft of retail space on basement two will then be relocated to more prime areas on the upper floors as well as a newly created fifth floor – now the rooftop.

A cinema will occupy the top floor, while anchor tenants will include a food court and gourmet supermarket, said the statement.

BreakTalk has expressed interest in leasing space at the mall.

Mr Pua is the founder and CEO of Perennial Real Estate but still heads the international operations at Indian real estate giant DLF, which he joined after leaving CapitaLand.

Apart from asset management, he is looking to put together a fund at DLF as well a real estate investment trust for the firm’s India assets. He said the DLF job ‘allows him to be more entrepreneurial’.

More plans are in the pipeline for Perennial, formed to engage in real estate activities, including fund and asset management and retail management in Singapore, India and China, he said.

The Katong Mall transaction is expected to be completed by the end of January. The mall is likely to close around the middle of next year for renovation works.

Source: Straits Times, 10 Nov 2009