Allianz Real Estate is set to acquire a 20% stake in Ocean Financial Centre, marking its first involvement in Singapore’s property market.
The S$537.3 million ($392 million) purchase of the A office tower, is from Keppel Real Estate Investment Trust (Keppel REIT). The 43-storey building is located at the intersection of Singapore’s Raffles Place and Marina Bay financial precincts.
The investment is part of the German insurer’s strategy to allocate between 5 and 10% of its real estate deals to the Asia Pacific region.
Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific chief executive officer at Allianz Real Estate, said: “This transaction is aligned with our approach of creating a quality portfolio of core assets in 24×7 cities.”
The Singapore office market is experiencing strong rental growth. “From an occupational cost and efficiency perspective it continues to be favourable vis-a-vis other comparable markets like Hong Kong,” added Desai.
Singapore was ranked as the second top real estate investment market in Asia Pacific, according to a report published earlier this month by consultancy PwC and the Urban Land Institute. Its attractiveness in this area was mainly due to an improvement in its office market.
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