Raffles City will grow with the acquisition of twin towers

CapitaLand, one of Asia's largest developers, owners and operators, announced today that it has acquired Shanghai's tallest twin towers, associated with Singapore's GIC sovereign wealth fund, for 12.8 billion yuan (1, US $ 84 billion), while the company continues to expand. Raffles signature portfolio in China.

To facilitate the acquisition, CapitaLand formed a 50/50 joint venture with GIC through Raffles City China Investment Partners III, a company in which it holds a 41.7% interest, with the remainder being comprised of investors from Asia, North America and the Middle East.

Located in the Hongkou District's North Bund, it consists of two 263-meter high-grade Class A office towers connected to the base by a seven-storey shopping center.

The 312,717-square-meter project, scheduled to open in the second half of 2019, will become Raffles City's third integrated development in Shanghai, the ninth largest in China and the tenth largest in the world.

"CapitaLand remains the foreign developer with the largest portfolio under management in Shanghai, a strong market able to support our third integrated development of Raffles City," said Lee Chee Koon, president and CEO of the CapitaLand Group. "In line with our long-term belief in China, we will continue to invest throughout market cycles to take advantage of the effects of our capitalization investments."

The acquisition of Raffles City in North Bund, or the second asset to be injected into RCCIP III, is in line with CapitaLand's strategy of expanding its portfolio by leveraging its fund management capability, the company said.

Shanghai is one of the top five urban hubs under Singapore's Singapore strategy, namely Beijing / Tianjin, Shanghai / Hangzhou / Suzhou / Ningbo, Guangzhou / Shenzhen, Chengdu / Chongqing / Xi'an and Wuhan .

With this latest acquisition, CapitaLand now owns and manages 20 commercial properties in Shanghai with a gross floor area of ​​more than 1.8 million square meters, eight of which are integrated developments with office and retail components.

In China, this year, CapitaLand sold nearly 2 billion Singaporean dollars (US $ 1.45 billion) in non-core assets as part of the ongoing optimization of its portfolio in China.