PGIM JV Buying Stamford Court From Singapore Land for $99.9M

Singapore’s real estate investment market started off the week with a pair of major transactions as SGX-listed Singapore Land late Monday announced the sale of a commercial building near City Hall at an agreed property value of S$132 million ($99.9 million).

The unit of development heavyweight UOL Group is selling Stamford Court, a four-storey retail and office asset opposite Singapore Management University, to a vehicle controlled by US investment manager PGIM Real Estate and startup private equity firm Elevate Capital Group, according to sources familiar with the transaction who spoke with Mingtiandi.

Singapore Land explained the deal as “in line with the strategy of the Group’s ongoing active portfolio management initiatives, which enables the Group to unlock value from its assets,” with the transaction being announced on the same day that Ho Bee Land said it had sold a 49 percent stake in a Singapore life sciences project for $205 million.

Representatives of PGIM Real Estate and Elevate Capital Group declined to comment on the transaction, which followed a marketing campaign for Stamford Court managed by Cushman & Wakefield on behalf of Singapore Land. New to the pages of Mingtiandi, Elevate Capital Group was established by Ashish Manchharam, who previously founded and served as chief executive of 8M Real Estate.

Core Location

Providing 62,900 square feet (5,844 square metres) of net lettable area, Stamford Court is located at the intersection of Stamford Road and Hill Street in Singapore’s Civic District, with the transaction valuing the property at the equivalent of S$2,099 per square foot.

The transaction represents a more than 17 percent premium to an independent S$109.5 million valuation of Stamford Court as of 30 June, according to Singapore Land.

The four-storey property has retail shops at street level with office space above and is located across Hill Street from Perennial Holdings’ Capitol Singapore complex. Stamford Court also stands within a short walk of the Bras Basah, Bencoolen and City Hall MRT stations.

Citing the deal as a demonstration of “investors’ ongoing confidence in Singapore’s commercial real estate market,” Cushman & Wakefield executive director for capital markets Shaun Poh in a statement pointed to the property’s location as key to the transaction.

“Its prime location within the Civic district, proximity to City Hall MRT interchange and Bras Basah MRT, and surrounding amenities, shopping, entertainment, and cultural attractions make it a truly exceptional property,” Poh said. The property was sold following a competitive expression of interest campaign conducted by C&W.

Living in the City

Having built established his value-add credentials assembling shophouse portfolios at 8M which he later leased to hospitality operators, boutique retailers and trendy dining destinations, Manchharam’s Elevate is understood to be set to act as manager for the property as well as investing alongside PGIM as a minority partner in the asset.

With the current Green Mark Platinum property already occupying the maximum floor area permitted under the plot ratio, the partners are expected to look for opportunities to upgrade the existing street level retail presence to add value to repurposed upper floors.

The building’s higher storeys are said to be destined for hospitality or residential use with Stamford Court’s proximity to Singapore Management University and its more than 12,000 scholars providing opportunities for a student housing play.

Manchharam in October last year sold 8M to Crane Capital, a Hong Kong-based unit of the Washington State Investment Board, for an undisclosed sum after acquiring S$1.4 billion worth of Singapore’s traditional shophouses.

SingLand Sells

Then known as United Industrial Corporation, Singapore Land had won the Stamford Court site at a government land sale in 1993 with the 99-year leasehold property having more than 68 years remaining on its tenure.

Singapore Land announced its sale of Stamford Court after the company last week reported S$103.7 million in net profit for the first half of this year, which was down 38 percent from the S$168.4 million the company achieved during the same period of 2023.

The profit decline was due largely to a slide in fair value gain from the company’s investment properties, which fell to S$5.3 million in the first half from S$93.5 million a year earlier.

On Tuesday Singapore Land’s parent company, UOL Group, reported net profit of S$130.4 million for the first half of this year, which represents a 3 percent decline from the same period in 2023.

Capitol Singapore on the Market

Also in the City Hall area, Perennial Holdings has put the retail, hotel and theatre elements of its Capitol Singapore complex on the market at an asking price of S$650 million, according to sources familiar with the property who spoke with Mingtiandi.

Spanning a total of around 244,500 square feet (22,714 square metres) the properties on offer include the Capitol Kempinski Hotel, the Capitol Theatre and an adjoining retail arcade, all of which are conservation buildings. The marketing of the properties had been reported earlier by the Business Times.

The 157-room Capitol Kempinski was built above the four-storey Capitol Building and Stamford House in the Capitol Singapore complex.

The developer is understood to have engaged Savills and CBRE to market the three properties as a set, while Perennial is aiming to retain a four-storey shopping centre built as part of the redevelopment of the Capitol Singapore complex, parts of which opened in 2015.

As reported Perennial is seeking the equivalent of S$2,895 per square foot for the 99-year  leasehold Capitol Square assets, with 85.5 years remaining on the land tenure.

Note: This story has been updated to show the correct name of Elevate Capital Group. An earlier version referred to the company as Elevate Capital Partners. Mingtiandi regrets the error.