Business Times - 05 Jan 2011
CMA to go shopping with $2b this year
It hopes to have around 100 malls in China in the next three to five years
By EMILYN YAP
(SINGAPORE) CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) is looking to invest around $2 billion in new projects this year after committing a similar amount last year, said chief executive Lim Beng Chee yesterday.
With around $1.4 billion of cash on its books and zero net gearing, the mall developer and manager is gunning for sites in Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Meanwhile, CMA's parent CapitaLand is open to the idea of a listing in China, since a large part of its business is in the mainland.
Last year, CMA - CapitaLand's 65.5 per cent owned subsidiary - spent some $2 billion on six new projects. There was one in Bedok, Singapore, one in Penang, Malaysia, and four in China.
By end-2010, CMA had amassed 91 shopping malls valued at around $22 billion. 'In the next few years, we will continue with the pace of growth that we have enjoyed,' Mr Lim said at a briefing.
Singapore, Malaysia and China will be CMA's key markets. Here, the group is eyeing around four sites on the Government Land Sales programme, which include one in Paya Lebar and one in Jurong.
In China, CMA hopes to expand its portfolio of 53 malls to around 100 in the next three to five years.
'It's quite an easy target' given the country's huge population, of which 400 million are in the middle class, said CMA chairman Liew Mun Leong, who is also CapitaLand group president and CEO.
Last year, CMA invested in two sites in Chengdu and another two sites in Shanghai. Price expectations became 'a lot more realistic' as the authorities tightened credit, Mr Lim said. 'Some weakness in the China market is also a good opportunity for us.'
Mr Liew sees much room for mall values to grow in China if the assets are well managed. According to CMA, property value per square foot of gross floor area in China is around $200, which is just 19 per cent of the $1,057 in Singapore.
'A lot of developers want to build shopping malls, but they do not know how to manage them. . . To find the right tenants and the right tenant mix is a skill set,' Mr Liew said.
Apart from acquiring assets, CMA also disposed of some last year to recycle capital. For instance, it sold Clarke Quay to CapitaMall Trust.
Ion Orchard is potentially up for divestment but Mr Lim did not say when it might happen. CMA has a 50 per cent stake in the mall, which opened in July 2009 and is valued at more than $2.5 billion.
Rental income from the mall has stabilised, he revealed. 'We must make sure that (the deal) is win-win and that the market is ready to take this asset because this asset is pretty huge.'
In China, CMA has some malls which will reach maturity this year or next and will be ready for divestment.
As at September last year, China accounted for 34 per cent of CMA's $21.6 billion property value. For CapitaLand, China contributed some 18 per cent of the total revenue of $684.6 million in the third quarter.
Asked if CapitaLand would consider listing its operations in China, Mr Liew said that it would be 'commercially logical' to do so, since much of the group's business is in the mainland and it would be able to raise funds in yuan.
'It's a question of when the Chinese authorities will open up for us,' he said.
CMA lost four cents on the stock market yesterday to close at $1.87 - some 26 per cent down from a year ago. CapitaLand closed unchanged at $3.76.
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Jan 5, 2011
CapitaMalls Asia expanding in region
New projects in Singapore, Malaysia and China will be focus of $2b investment
By Cheryl Lim
PROPERTY firm CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) will commit almost $2 billion this year to boost its presence across the region.
It said yesterday that the cash will go towards new projects, with a stronger focus on Singapore, Malaysia and China, which it identifies as a country of enormous opportunity.
CMA has 53 properties in Chinese cities but plans to double that number over the next three to five years.
Chief executive Lim Beng Chee told a briefing yesterday that China continues to show strong potential.
Mr Lim said that only about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of retail trade in China happens in shopping malls, compared to close to 80 per cent in America and Australia.
CMA's targeted portfolio mix will continue to see China and Singapore comprising 40 per cent each, with the rest in other markets.
But the company is not ruling out opportunities in other parts of Asia, such as India and Vietnam.
CMA has nine properties in India, with seven slated for development.
Mr Lim said: 'There is demand (for products in Vietnam) but we also have to make sure there is a demand from retailers.
'Most likely we'll do a mixed development with CapitaLand if there is opportunity before we look at Vietnam.'
There are also plans for CMA properties here. Plaza Singapura and the adjacent The Atrium@Orchard will be integrated to form a unified frontage, with more of the office space in The Atrium to be converted into retail.
Mr Lim said the conversion will involve putting to better use more of the open space facing Orchard Road. Details will be released soon.
Development of CMA's 13-storey, mixed-use development in Bedok Town will also start after the bus interchange moves to its temporary site - which is under construction - in the second or third quarter of next year. The project is expected to be completed by 2014.
Only two-thirds of CMA's 89 properties worldwide are operational, with about 1.5 million visitors passing through on a daily basis.
Mr Lim said he is confident that figure will jump to 2.5 million once the remaining malls open.
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