SLB Grabs Buildings in Singapore, Melbourne, Completes Hotel Buy With Weave

SLB Development on Thursday announced its acquisitions of a Singapore commercial complex and a Melbourne office building for a total of $46 million.

SLB has agreed to buy 30 and 31 North Canal Road, a pair of four-storey buildings near Singapore’s Clarke Quay, for S$14.4 million ($10.5 million), the SGX-listed developer said in a release. The property sits 0.5 kilometres (0.3 miles) from the city centre and is within 10 minutes’ walk of the Clarke Quay, Chinatown and Raffles Place MRT stations.

In Australia, SLB has entered into a contract to acquire a 12-storey office building at 225 King Street in the Flagstaff precinct of downtown Melbourne for A$35.5 million ($25.5 million). Also Thursday, SLB announced its S$74.8 million acquisition of the Hotel Clover in Singapore’s Bugis district alongside joint venture partner Weave Living, completing a deal reported by Mingtiandi in March.

“We are pleased to have continued to make good progress in diversifying our short-term recurring income stream — both by asset portfolio, and by geographic base,” said Matthew Ong, SLB’s executive director and chief executive. “Apart from the ‘living sectors’ segment, we have also extended our reach in the office space in these latest acquisitions in both Singapore and Australia.”

Ready to Rejuvenate

The ageing buildings at 30 and 31 North Canal Road have a net lettable area of 11,464 square feet (1,065 square metres), with SLB set to pay S$1,256 ($913) per square foot of NLA upon completion of the transaction on 23 June.

At 225 King Street, SLB’s consideration works out to A$525 ($376) per square foot for the property’s NLA of 67,663 square feet. The deal is subject to approval by Australian regulators, with completion expected to take place by the end of August.

The seller was not disclosed for either asset. SLB plans to “rejuvenate and uplift” the tenant experience at both properties through green and sustainable repositioning to achieve positive rental reversions until market conditions are suitable for redevelopment or disposal, Ong said.

The Hotel Clover at 17-33 Jalan Sultan is the first Singapore acquisition for Hong Kong-based conversion specialist Weave Living, which has a significant majority ownership in the JV with SLB. The property spans 35,000 square feet and houses 88 hotel rooms on a leasehold plot with 85 years left on its tenure.

The venture is paying S$2,143 per square foot of built area or S$852,272 per room, as it plans to spend S$4-5 million for refurbishments before opening Weave’s first rental housing in the city-state by the first quarter of next year.

PGIM JV Confirmed

Last week, Warburg Pincus-backed Weave confirmed the formation of a $200 million urban living JV in Hong Kong with global fund manager PGIM Real Estate, as reported by Mingtiandi in April.

PGIM will hold a 90 percent stake while Weave will act as the asset manager, development manager and operations manager for the joint venture and its assets while retaining a 10 percent stake alongside its third-party capital partner. The JV recently acquired the 435-room Rosedale Hotel in Kowloon for HK$1.37 billion ($175.4 million) from Shaw Holdings and ITC Properties.

For SLB, the King Street acquisition marks its second Melbourne deal in as many years after consolidating a commercial building in April 2021 alongside Hong Kong’s Baring Private Equity Asia and local partner Futuro Capital.

That transaction was a throwback for CEO Ong after Lian Beng Group, the construction and property firm controlled by his family, had sold off the last of its three properties in the Victorian state capital more than three years earlier.