Headline Fund linked to Li Ka shing ready to sell five malls MediaTitle The Edge Date 28 Jul 2014 Color Black/white Section Corporate Circulation 22,244 Page No 1,30 Readership 66,732 Language English ArticleSize 251 cm² Journalist VASANTHA GANESAN AdValue RM 3,311 Frequency Weekly PR Value RM 9,934

Fund linked to Li Ka­shing ready to sell five malls

BY VASANTHA GANESAN ARA Asia Dragon Fund — which owns Affiliated with Hong Kong's richest man five malls in — has hired a Li Ka­shing's Cheung Kong Group, the fund real estate agent to find buyers for the owns lMont Kiara, and Cit­ assets that carry a price tag of more ta Mall in the Klang Valley, Parade in than RM2 billion, sources say. and AEON Bandaraya Melaka. CONTINUES ON PAGE 30 Sale to be completed next year FROM PAGE 1 assets and handle the sale. Parade fromTMW,but the deal did not go The five assets,acquired between 2010 According to a source, the fund prefers through. TMW is managed by Pramerica, and 2012 by ARA Asia Dragon Fund 1 (ADF1), to sell all the assets to one party and the the real estate investment management have a combined 2.7 million sq ft of space sale is likely to be completed next year. business of the US' Prudential Inc. and have recently undergone a renovation ARA Asset Management's presence in Ipoh Parade, which was built in the and refurbishment exercise. Malaysia was established in 2006 when it 1990s,underwent a RM90 million asset­en­ ADF1, which bought the properties for teamed up with AmBank Group to set up hancement exercise that increased the an estimated RM1.3 billion, initiated a ren­ the AmFIRST Real Estate InvestmentTrust mall's NLA to 618,448 sq ft from about ovation exercise last year, involving more (AmFIRST REIT). Will AmFIRST make a bid 584,794 sq ft and the number of shops to than RM200 million. Klang Parade, for ex­ for these properties? According to an official 199 from 182. ample, underwent an extreme makeover, contacted by The Edge, the trust will not be Twenty­year­old Klang Parade was up­ while the work on Ipoh Parade and 1 Mont putting in a bid for these assets. graded last year at a cost of RM120 million. Kiara was at a smaller scale. Ng had previously said that because the Although the NLA was decreased to 660,102 It was reported that as at March 2014, assets are held by a fund, the interests of sq ft from 696,442 sq ft, the number of ten­ Klang Parade had 88% occupancy, Ipoh its investors would come first and maxim­ ants grew to 231 from 123. Parade 90% and 1 Mont Kiara 80%. ising returns for the fund is paramount. Citta Mall in Ara Damansara was the ARA Asia Dragon Fund is a private real ADF1 made its maiden acquisition in fund's final known Malaysian acquisition. estate fund managed by Singapore­listed 2010 when it bought 1 Mont Kiara, which Purchased in 2012 for RM200 million, it ARA Asset Management Ltd and comes comprised an office building and a retail has an NLA of426,006 sq ft.This shopping under the purview of ARA Private Funds. component, for an estimated RM330 million centre was developed on a 70:30 basis by As at press time, ARA Private Funds CEO German real estate fund SEB Asset Man­ from Aseana Properties Ltd.The fund has Ng Beng Tiong had yet to respond to an pumped in RM20 million to upgrade the agement and property developer Puncak­ email query regarding the sale of the assets. retail portion to provide more visibility.The dana Group. Ng had previously stated that should retail portion of the commercial property Although ADFl is expected to eventually the fund divest the five assets, it would be has a net lettable (NLA) area of 226,000 sq divest the five properties, ARA Group has looking at malting at least 20% in internal maintained that it will continue to seek ft. In the same year, the fund bought AEON rate of return, given that the acquisitions Bandaraya Melaka for RM710 million from neighbourhood malls in Malaysia. were made within the last four years.The supermarket­cum­department store op­ As at March 3l,2014,ARAAsset Manage­ fund's investment horizon is between erator AEON Co (M) Bhd while it was still ment's assets under management stood three and five years. under construction. at S$25.4 billion (RM65 billion). ARA Asset The Edge understands that the fund had Klang Parade and Ipoh Parade were ac­ Management also manages REITS listed last month asked real estate agents to put quired from TMW Asia Property Fund in in Singapore, including Suntec REIT, Pros­ in their proposals, after which it selected 2011. ADF1 had also bid to acquire Seremban perity REIT and Fortune REIT. B an exclusive agent to invite bids for the