Rava-Backed EZA Hill Buying Singapore Sheds from CapitaLand Ascendas REIT for $256M

Singapore industrial assets continue to be a top draw for investors with a local platform backed by HIllhouse Investment’s Rava Partners agreeing to buy four facilities in the city-state from CapitaLand Ascendas REIT for S$329 million ($256.4 million).

The Singapore-listed trust announced the sale of the light industrial portfolio to the stock exchange early Monday, with sources familiar with the transaction identifying Rava portfolio company EZA Hill Property Management as the buyer, confirming earlier reporting by the Business Times.

Bloomberg reported that Partners Group joined EZA Hill in acquiring the four properties. The REIT sold a fifth asset to a separate buyer, whose identity was not disclosed.

The deal adds to a local EZA Hill portfolio which already includes five industrial properties picked up from what is now ESR REIT in 2023 in a partnership with JD property. 

The transaction comes as sheds continue to be among the Lion City’s most active property sectors with a number of global players having added to their industrial portfolios in the country over the past year.

“Building on a stellar 2024, we are seeing sustained momentum in Singapore’s industrial real estate sector,” said Loh Lee Fen, head of Singapore industrial capital markets at CBRE, which brokered the deal. “The Singapore dollar’s strength and a favourable lending environment, including a declining SORA (Singapore Overnight Rate Average), are key contributors to this positive trend.”

Pan-Island Portfolio

The highest-value of the five assets is the Senkee Logistics Hub, a five-storey ramp-up facility on Pandan Avenue in District 22 which is wholly leased to Senkee Logistics, CLAR’s manager said. CLAR is selling the 87,842 square metre (945,523 square foot) for S$140 million.

10 Toh Guan Road, a 52,147 square metre facility near the Tuas and Jurong industrial estates is changing hands for S$84.5 million, with that property comprising a six-storey warehouse and 10-storey office block. EZA Hill is paying S$51.5 million for 9 Changi South Street 3, a 28,648 square metre warehouse and office facility near Changi airport. 

In central Singapore’s Ubi industrial heartland, EZA Hill is paying S$30 million for 31 Ubi Road 1, a 17,709 square metres facility, and is acquiring 30 Tampines Industrial Avenue 3 a 9,593 square metre business park property in northeastern Singapore for S$23 million.

In total, the basket of properties measures 195,939 square metres of gross floor area with the transaction averaging just over S$1,679per square metre, according to Mingtiandi calculations. 

Singapore Sheds Stay Hot

EZA Hill’s latest acquisition was announced just days after Brookfield Asset Management closed on its inaugural investment in Singapore’s industrial sector, with the fund manager acquiring five properties in the city state from Mapletree Industrial Trust in a deal first announced in May. 

In March of this year Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management took a step toward building its latest pan-regional logistics portfolio, with portfolio company Unified Industrial agreeing to acquire the property and fund management unit of SGX-listed Boustead Singapore as part of a plan to add Singapore and greater Southeast Asia to an existing North Asia-focused platform.

In October of last year Boston-based AEW notched a successful exit, selling Admirax, an industrial asset in Singapore’s Woodlands area. to a family office for between S$153 million and S$154 million.  

Portfolio Reshuffle

The manager of CapitaLand Ascendas REIT stuck to standard-issue commentary on the deal, noting that, “The proposed divestments are in line with the manager’s proactive capital recycling strategy to improve the quality of CLAR’s portfolio and optimise returns for unitholders of CLAR.”

Capitaland Ascendas REIT says it is disposing of the assets at “healthy premiums” of about 6 percent over the properties’ total market valuation and 20 percent over the original purchase price. The disposals are expected to be completed within the fourth quarter of this year, netting the REIT S$313.1 million, according to the statement.

CLAR’s first-half gross revenue fell 2 percent year-on-year to S$754.8 million, mainly due to the divestment of five properties across Australia, Singapore and the US since February 2024 and the decommissioning of the REIT’s Welwyn Garden City data centre near London for redevelopment. The decline was partly offset by the acquisition of a US warehouse earlier this year.

Last Monday, CLAR announced the launch of its first logistics developments in the UK with a single-storey logistics property at Manton Wood and three single-storey logistics assets in Towcester for a total investment cost of S$350.1 million.

Expansion Continues

EZA Hill’s Singapore acquisition comes after the developer and fund manager last November  acquired a three-asset logistics portfolio in Indonesia valued at $148 million from a fund managed by warehouse specialist ESR, marking the platform’s maiden investment in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. 

The trio of sheds in Greater Jakarta span 137,000 square metres of net lettable area, with EZA HIll saying at the time that it plans to expand the built area of the portfolio.