CapitaLand confirms talks to buy Asia Square Tower 1

CapitaLand confirms talks to buy Asia Square Tower 1

The deal involving the consortium of property developer CapitaLand and the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund could value Asia Square Tower 1 at more than S$3.5 billion, reports Bloomberg News.

POSTED: 14 Oct 2015 17:00

SINGAPORE: Southeast Asia's biggest property developer, CapitaLand, on Wednesday (14 Oct) confirmed news reports that it was involved in talks to buy the Asia Square Tower 1 office building.

Its statement to the stock exchange came a day after Bloomberg News said a consortium of Norway's sovereign wealth fund and CapitaLand has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the 43-storey office building in Singapore's central business district. Bloomberg said the deal could value Asia Square Tower 1 at more than S$3.5 billion.

CapitaLand said that as discussions are still ongoing, there is no certainty that a transaction will materialise.

Should the deal proceed, CapitaLand said it anticipates drawing upon internal sources of funds and available credit lines. As of Jun 30, 2015, CapitaLand had about S$3.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents and approximately S$3.1 billion in available undrawn credit facilities.

Asia Square Tower 1, which is owned by asset manager BlackRock, counts Citigroup and Swiss private bank Julius Baer among its main tenants.

- CNA/xq

- wong chee tat :)