The sale is expected to be completed in 1Q2026. After fees, including a divestment fee of some $2.1 million payable to the manager, net proceeds from the divestment would be approximately $421.2 million.
According to the manager, the exit yield is “around the mid-4% level”, based on FY2024 net property income adjusted for one-offs and deduction of lease payments for rightof-use assets.
Tan Choon Siang, CEO and executive director of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust Management, says: “The sale of Bukit Panjang Plaza is part of our portfolio reconstitution strategy to optimise our portfolio, strengthen CICT’s financial flexibility for growth and create value for our stakeholders.”
CICT, then CapitaMall Trust, had acquired Bukit Panjang Plaza from CapitaLand in two stages — in 2003 and 2007 — for $161.3 million.
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The mall sits on a 99-year lease that began on Dec 1, 1994, with a remaining lease tenure of around 68 years.
JLL advised CICT on this divestment.
Built in 1998, Bukit Panjang Plaza has reportedly been on the market since early 2024, when CICT was asking for around $470 million.
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About the buyer
Real estate news website Mingtiandi has named US asset manager Hines as the buyer of the retail mall. Houston-based Hines has declined to comment on the news.
The latest acquisition marks Hines’ third investment in Singapore since establishing an office here in 2020, and the first outside of the industrial sector.
The American real estate firm made its maiden acquisition in early 2022 in a joint venture with German asset manager DWS, paying $93.8 million for a 378,000 sq ft industrial asset, Bukit Batok Connection.
The asset came from the portfolio of Soilbuild Business Space REIT after it was privatised by Blackstone and Soilbuild.
In July 2024, Hines announced it had acquired a second industrial property in Singapore — 15 Senoko Loop — in a partnership with Mitsubishi Estate and MBK Estate, a unit of Mitsui & Co.
The four-storey facility on the 263,328 sq ft site was reportedly acquired for $53.2 million from British-American Tobacco (Singapore) in a sale-and-leaseback transaction.
According to a May 2024 report by The Business Times, Hines reportedly holds a 5% stake in the joint venture controlling the Singapore-incorporated vehicle that acquired the property.
