[SINGAPORE] Cuscaden Peak Investments is putting The Clementi Mall on the market at an indicative guide price of around S$750 million, according to industry sources.
The group is in the early stages of preparing for a sale of the retail property, the sources said. At S$750 million, the indicative price would be about 15 per cent above the latest valuation of S$645 million as at Dec 31, 2024, and would translate to about S$3,800 per square foot (psf) on the net lettable area of about 195,772 sq ft.
The Business Times understands that the move is part of the group’s ongoing strategy of portfolio optimisation and capital recycling.
Cushman & Wakefield and Savills have been appointed to market the suburban mid-market mall, which has a five-storey retail podium and a basement level, with around 160 shops. It is likely to be sold through an expression of interest exercise.
Cuscaden Peak Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cuscaden Peak, a consortium made up of Hotel Properties Ltd, CapitaLand’s CLA Real Estate Holdings and a Mapletree Investments unit which took over Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in 2022.
The takeover also resulted in Cuscaden Peak Investments acquiring assets – including The Clementi Mall – held by SPH Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), which was renamed Paragon Reit. HPL has since exited the consortium, while Paragon Reit was privatised earlier this year, in April, and delisted in June.
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The 99-year leasehold Clementi site was acquired for S$541.9 million by an SPH-led joint venture with NTUC Fairprice Co-operative and NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative, in a state land tender in November 2009.
The price worked out to a land rate of S$2,797 psf.
The Clementi Mall opened in May 2011 as the first full-fledged mall to open in the Clementi area. SPH held a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture, with FairPrice and Income taking 20 per cent each.
The retail mall, which now also houses a public library, is part of an integrated mixed-use development that includes public housing blocks and a bus interchange. It is directly connected to Clementi MRT station, which will become an interchange station once the Cross Island Line is completed.
According to Paragon Reit’s full-year results for FY2024, The Clementi Mall brought in S$46.9 million in revenue that financial year. This was up 6.1 per cent from FY2023’s S$44.2 million.
It also accounted for some 16 per cent of the Reit’s total revenue in FY2024. Net property income from The Clementi Mall came in at S$34.1 million for the year – around 15 per cent of Paragon Reit’s total net property income.
The Clementi Mall’s occupancy rate has held at 100 per cent in the past three years. Tenants include FairPrice Finest, Uniqlo, Best Denki and Decathlon. Visitor traffic stood at 27.7 million in FY2024, and tenant sales came up to S$268.2 million.
Rental reversion was 16 per cent in the latest financial year, and 9 per cent in the year before.
According to Paragon Reit’s latest annual report, The Clementi Mall served around 98,000 residents in the Clementi Planning Area, and another 182,000 residents in the Bukit Timah and Queenstown Planning Areas as at end-2023.
It predicted that its shopper catchment would increase by about 4,000 in the next three years, with an estimated student population of nearly 100,000.
String of divestments
Since 2023, Cuscaden Peak has sold a string of assets it acquired from the SPH takeover.
Early in 2023, the group sold three freehold Nassim Road bungalows to Singaporean members of the Fangiono family behind mainboard-listed palm oil producer First Resources, for a total of S$206.7 million.
In April 2024, Cuscaden Peak divested 8,192 student housing beds across the UK and Germany to Mapletree Investments in a deal worth £1 billion (S$1.7 billion).
The Seletar Mall was sold to Allgreen Properties for S$550 million in March 2024. Cuscaden Peak had owned a 70 per cent stake in The Seletar Mall, with United Engineers holding the remaining 30 per cent.
In June the same year, Paragon Reit announced it was divesting The Rail Mall in Upper Bukit Timah Road for S$78.5 million. The buyer was reported to be the Yong family behind Woh Hup Holdings.
A third retail property, The Woodleigh Mall, has been on the market for S$800 million since July 2024. The shopping centre is jointly owned by Cuscaden Peak and Japanese developer Kajima Development.
Paragon Reit also divested its 85 per cent stake in Figtree Grove, a shopping centre in New South Wales, Australia, for A$192 million (S$168 million) in January this year.
With The Clementi Mall now on the market, Paragon Reit now holds just two retail assets in its portfolio: the Paragon mall, a prime Orchard Road property in Singapore; and a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Marion in South Australia.
