Tuesday, October 17, 2006
[RealEdge] BT : Lippo sale deal with Macquarie lapses
| Published October 17, 2006  | |
| Lippo sale deal with Macquarie lapses A PRELIMINARY arrangement by Lippo Group to sell its Singapore flagship office building at 78 Shenton Way to a fund linked to Macquarie Bank has lapsed. But Lippo is open to selling the leasehold office property - at the right price. 'We have received various offers but we're in no hurry to sell, given that the Singapore office market is improving,' Lippo Group deputy chairman Stephen Riady said, when contacted by BT yesterday. He would not comment on the Macquarie offer, citing confidentiality. BT reported last week that the Macquarie fund was to buy the property at about $290 million. Since then, BT has learnt that Lippo had indeed entered into a preliminary arrangement to sell the property to the Macquarie-linked fund - but this was subject to terms being agreed upon within a stipulated time frame. Apparently, the deal could not be sewn up in time and the arrangement lapsed. Lippo is said to have received offers at much higher prices, as high as $330 million, from other parties. The building, on a site with a remaining lease of about 76 years, has about 298,000 sq ft net lettable area. Lippo bought the property in August 2004 from MCL Land for $151 million or about $505 psf of net lettable area. Mr Riady says Lippo is considering moving its Singapore headquarters to the new 18-storey office block that will be developed on the Overseas Union House site. The new tower is expected to be ready by end-2009. Lippo and Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan's vehicle, Usaha Tegas, now control Overseas Union Enterprise, which last Saturday inked a deal to take full control of a company that owns Overseas Union House and next-door Change Alley Aerial Plaza. Mr Riady said that the new HQ for the group will be a toss-up between OUB Centre (also controlled by OUE and the Lippo-Ananda Krishnan venture) at 1 Raffles Place and the new office tower at the Overseas Union House site. But Mr Riady seems to be partial towards the latter location as 'it's going to be closer to the Business & Financial Centre (BFC), and Marina Bay, with full sea view'. |
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