Mapletree Commercial Trust To Merge With Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust
SINGAPORE – One year after the mammoth team up between CapitaLand Mall Trust and CapitaLand Commercial Trust to form CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT), another multi-billion merger between 2 Singapore-listed REITs are underway, reported The Smart Investor on Monday morning (3 January, SGT).
Last week, Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) announced S$4.2 billion merger with Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) to create a new behemoth REI known as Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial REIT (MPACT).
The combined entity is expected to have a market capitalisation of roughly S$10.5 billion and will own a diverse portfolio of 18 commercial properties across Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and South Korea.
MPACT’s assets under management (AUM) will also increase to nearly S$17.1 billion, with pro-forma net property income (NPI) of almost S$360 million for financial year H1 2022.
By joining forces, MPACT will also cut its reliance on any single occupant based on gross rental income (GRI). Before MCT’s biggest tenant accounted for 10.8 percent of its GRI, while MNACT’s largest lessee made up 8.1 percent.
Post-merger, MPACT’s biggest tenant, social media giant Google, will account for 5.7 percent of the GRI. The merged entity’s top 10 tenants will account for 23.1 percent of overall GRI, down from MCT’s 28.3 percent and 38 percent for MNACT.
In addition, the merged entity’s occupancy level will continue to be high at 97 percent, whereas its weighted average lease expiry (WALE) will remain the same at 2.6 years.
Apart from expediting MCT’s regional expansion in nations outside of Singapore, the merger is anticipated to transform MPACT into one of the 10 biggest commercial REITs in Asia.
At the top spot is Hong Kong’s Link REIT with a market capitalisation of about S$24.7 billion. CICT and Ascendas REIT occupy the 3rd and 5th place respectively, while MPACT is expected to obtain the 7th spot post-merger.
