Oxley Boss Teams With LHN, KSH, Soon Hock to Buy Singapore Industrial Site for $270M

A joint venture led by the family behind SGX-listed builder Oxley Holdings has acquired an industrial redevelopment site in northern Singapore for S$351 million ($270.1 million).

Macritchie Developments, a private firm owned by Oxley chairman and CEO Ching Chiat Kwong and son Shawn Ching, teamed with frequent partner LHN Group, KSH Holdings, Soon Hock Enterprise and other local players to enter the winning bid for the property known as 680 Upper Thomson Road, according to stock exchange filings.

The freehold site spanning 263,900 square feet (24,517 square metres) was put up for tender last month by NTUC FairPrice Co-operative, a division of Singapore’s National Trade Union Congress, at a guide price of S$300 million. The co-op engaged CBRE to market the property, currently home to a FairPrice fresh food distribution centre, which is to be redeveloped into a strata-titled industrial complex, market sources told Mingtiandi.

LHN, which filed a preliminary prospectus last month for the listing of its Coliwoo co-living arm, said the JV would enable expansion of its development business, while recently listed industrial specialist Soon Hock said it saw a chance to scale up through collaboration on a large project. A CBRE representative declined to comment.

Rare Freehold Prize

The tender for 680 Upper Thomson Road drew keen interest as builders sought one of the few large freehold industrial sites available near Singapore’s central region, according to a market source, with the winning bid representing a 17 percent premium to NTUC’s guide price.

The site at the intersection of Upper Thomson and Tagore Drive can provide a maximum gross floor area of 527,800 square feet, with the JV’s acquisition price translating to S$665 ($512) per square foot of space.

The venture’s lead shareholders are Macritchie with a 26.5 percent stake and KSH with a 25 percent interest, as well as CP-Tagore — a vehicle controlled by Centurion Corp chairmen David Loh and Han Seng Juan — with 22.5 percent. Soon Hock and LHN hold stakes of 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively, with the remaining interest held by an entity called Petrus Capital (5 percent) and two individuals, Tay Lian Xie and Chin Hong Oon (3 percent each).

The JV marks a fourth LHN-Macritchie collaboration after the partners earlier this year secured the option to acquire a residential building in Singapore’s Geylang area for S$30 million as a commercial redevelopment project. Macritchie had acquired a stake in a District 6 rental residential project from LHN’s Coliwoo in April of last year, following an LHN-Macritchie tie-up that same month to acquire and renovate a building in Singapore’s museum district.

The industrial site adds to NTUC’s list of property disposals after last year’s sale of the Prinsep House commercial block in the Dhoby Ghaut area to the Lim family behind Midview Group for S$147 million. NTUC previously divested its half-stake in the NEX mall in Serangoon district to Frasers Property and Frasers Centrepoint Trust for S$652.5 million in January 2023, shortly after selling Jurong Point and Swing By @ Thomson Plaza to Link REIT in December 2022.

Rents Continue Climb

Singapore industrial rents rose 0.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the prior three months, marking a 20th straight quarter of increase, according to the JTC All Industrial Rental Index.

Warehouse rents climbed 0.9 percent on a quarterly basis as the occupancy rate increased by 0.8 points to 89.6 percent. Rents in the prime logistics segment rose 1.1 percent, reversing a 0.5 percent drop in the previous quarter, on surging demand from third-party logistics firms, said CBRE Southeast Asia research head Tricia Song.

“With future prime logistics supply moderating, modern ramp-up facilities are expected to benefit from further rent increases,” Song said.