CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) plans to sell Robinson Point, a 21-storey freehold office property, for about $200 million, or around $1,500 per sq ft of net lettable area.
The buyer is said to be the US real estate fund manager AEW. AEW purchased the former Apollo Centre for $205 million in late 2007, and has since revamped it through a major overhauling exercise that was completed in 2009.
Robinson Point has 133,139-sq-ft net lettable area and is said to have around 90 percent occupancy.
The building generated a net property income (NPI) amounting to $7.3 million for the fiscal year that ended Dec 31, 2008. For the third quarter that ended Sept 30, 2009, the NPI of Robinson Point was $2.62 million.
Several market observers recall that the property was in the market for the past few years, with a prospective buyer even doing due diligence on it. However, the faltering office capital values placed the target price of CCT out of sight at that time.
Robinson Point was completed by DBS Land in 1997.
Under the revamp, the net floor area of the seven-storey building has increased from some 148,000 square feet to 170,000 square feet. The property is now recognized as 2 Havelock Road.
Market observers note that the impending sale of Robinson Point reflects the growing appetite of foreign investors in the Singapore office market again.
The office blocks sold last year were mostly small deals of below $100 million each and purchased mostly by local market players.
Together with its affiliates, AEW manages more than US$45 billion of property assets and securities, as of Sept 30, 2009, on behalf of private and institutional investors. AEW’s headquarters is in Boston and in April 2007, the group established an office in Singapore.