Allianz has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 20% stake in Ocean Financial Centre, a 43-storey Grade-A office tower located at Raffles Place and Marina Bay financial precincts in Singapore. The transaction value is $537.3 million with the deal expected to complete by end December.
Ocean Financial Centre is built on the site of the former Ocean Building, a landmark office tower on Collyer Quay. It was redeveloped by Keppel Land in 2011 and was designed by acclaimed architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli. The building has a BCA Green Mark Platinum rating. The new landmark was completed and sold to Keppel Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) for more than $2 billion in 2011. Keppel REIT owns 99.9% of the 99-year leasehold interest on the property, which expires in 2110.
Ocean Financial Centre is built on the site of the former Ocean Building (Photo Credit: Allianz)
The property has an occupancy rate of 95.5%. The building has a total net lettable area of 877,635 sq ft comprising a Grade-A office tower with retail space on the first and basement levels. The building has column free interiors and floor plates of 20,000-25,000 sq ft.
The buyer, Allianz Real Estate, is part of the €60 billion real estate investment and asset manager of the Allianz Group. The acquisition is part of Allianz’s strategy to allocate 5% to 10% of its real estate exposure to Asia-Pacific. “This transaction is aligned with our approach of creating a quality portfolio of core assets in 24x7 cities,” said Rushabh Desai, CEO of Asia-Pacific at Allianz.
Tan Swee Yiow, CEO of Keppel REIT Management Limited, said: “With its premium facilities, green features and tenant-centric amenities and service offering, we are confident that Ocean Financial Centre will continue to be valued by tenants.”