Mall developer and manager CapitaMalls Asia (CMA), a 65.5 percent owned subsidiary of CapitaLand, is looking to invest about $2 billion in new projects in 2011 after it committed a similar amount in 2010, said Lim Beng Chee, chief executive of CMA.
With zero net gearing and about $1.4 billion of cash on its books, CMA is gunning for sites in Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Last year, CMA spent about $2 billion on six projects, of which four are located in China, one in Malaysia and one in Singapore.
By end-2010, it had amassed 91 shopping malls worth about $22 billion. “In the next few years, we will continue with the pace of growth that we have enjoyed,” said Mr. Lim.
CMA’s major markets will be Singapore, Malaysia and China. In Singapore, it is looking at four sites on the GLS programme including one in Jurong and another in Paya Lebar.
In China, the company hopes to expand its portfolio to about 100 malls in the next three to five years from the current 53 malls.
“It’s quite an easy target” considering China’s huge population, of which 400 million are in the middle class, said Liew Mun Leong, chairman of CMA and group president and chief executive of CapitaLand.
In 2010, CMA invested in two sites in Shanghai and another two sites in Chengdu. Mr. Lim said price expectations became “a lot more realistic” as authorities tightened credit. “Some weakness in the China market is also a good opportunity for us.”
Mr. Liew said there is more room for mall values to increase in China if the properties are well managed. CMA said real estate value psf of gross floor area (GFA) in China is about $200, which is only 19 percent of the $1,057 in Singapore.
“A lot of developers want to build shopping malls, but they do not know how to manage them. . . To find the right tenants and the right tenant mix is a skill set,” said Mr. Liew.