During CapitaLand Investment’s FY2025 results briefing, analysts and media who awaited news of a merger with Mapletree were disappointed. More than that, CLI announced that it had a revaluation loss of $439 million, blamed mainly on China, causing net Patmi to plummet. Operating Patmi, however, rose 6% y-o-y to $539 million.
On the other hand, CLI may have a cash infusion if all goes according to plan. “We did a C-REIT listing in 2025, and we have another filing for another C-REIT listing,” says Paul Tham, group CFO, CLI.
Puah Tze Shyang, CEO of CapitaLand China expands on the second C-REIT. “We are planning to launch a second C-REIT this year, probably late second quarter, early third quarter. One of the assets is Raffles City Shenzhen. The office occupancy is almost 90%.”
According to Puah a few tailwinds are evident for C-REITs. He expects CLI’s second C-REIT to take just six months, compared to the two years for its first IPO. “The regulators are picking up the pace and allowing for more expedited process,” he says. Secondly, the mandate has opened up and sponsors don’t need to reinvest the proceeds of the C-REIT back into China.
Based on CapitaLand’s 2019 annual report, 56% of Raffles City Shenzhen's 121,814 sq m of GFA is retail, 27% is office, and 17% lodging, and the asset was last valued at RMB5.5 billion ($1 billion) in 2019. At the time CapitaLand's stake was around 30.6%. As at end-December 2025, CLI's stake is 57.4%.
Ervin Yeo, CEO of Commercial Management at CLI says Raffles City Shenzhen is in a good location, benefitting from Hong Kong tourists. “We are able to host the HQ of Chinese tech companies and American tech companies. (Netherlands-headquartered) ASML is a tenant. They exited an SOE building. Amazon is also a tenant. So it's fairly resilient among office assets.”
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CapitaLand Commercial C-REIT’s (CLCR) IPO price in September last year was RMB5.718 and it is now traded at RMB6.90. Yuhuating Mall, which was formerly an asset in CapitaLand China Trust was divested into CLCR at above its book value.
“We were very focused in making sure that the first C-REIT is well received and trades well so that the second one will be well received, and be of significant size. Then it can be a vehicle to take out many of the assets that we have in China at pricing that is attractive," says Lee Chee Koon, group CEO, CLI.
The last major transaction involving CapitaLand’s Raffles City portfolio in China was in 2021, when CapitaLand sold partial stakes in six Raffles City developments (Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo, Chengdu, Changning, and Hangzhou) to Ping An Life Insurance. That deal valued the portfolio at about RMB 46.7 billion. Post-transaction, CapitaLand kept effective stakes of 12.6% to 30% in each development.
