Starhill Global REIT to buy Perth retail property for some S$148m

Starhill Global REIT to buy Perth retail property for some S$148m
By Irene Chan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 18 November 2009 2312 hrs



SINGAPORE: Mainboard-listed Starhill Global REIT, which owns shopping malls on Orchard Road, plans to buy a retail property in Perth called "David Jones Building," for around S$148 million.

It will buy the property from Australian real estate firm, Centro, via a special purpose unit trust structure established in Australia. This would be Starhill Global's first investment in Australia.

Meanwhile, the property trust also entered into an agreement with Starhill REIT of Malaysia to indirectly buy interests in Starhill Gallery and Lot 10 Shopping Centre on Kuala Lumpur's main shopping street, Bukit Bintang, for about S$423 million. This would be through an asset backed securitisation structure.

The two properties in Kuala Lumpur comprise total net lettable area of some 554,000 square feet.

With these proposed acquisitions, Starhill Global's portfolio size is expected to grow to S$2.5 billion.

Starhill Global said the deals are expected to be completed in January, and will be funded by a combination of debt and proceeds raised from its recent rights issue.

The acquisitions are expected to be accretive to the property trust's distribution per unit.

- CNA/sc