Hong Kong's Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Link REIT), the largest real estate investment trust in Asia, has announced the purchase of 100-percent stake in Baoyi Property Management (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., which owns the Central Walk shopping mall in Futian District, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Thursday.
The deal marked the first commercial property acquisition by overseas investors in Shenzhen, as well as the city’s first retail property transaction in the past three years.
According to a valuation report, the current valuation of Central Walk is 6.6 billion yuan (US$987.87 million). As the adjusted net asset value is 1.49 billion yuan less than the total liabilities, the initial price Link REIT has to pay is 5.12 billion yuan. The whole transaction will be completed within at least a month.
Located in Futian CBD, Central Walk is a five-story shopping mall with a total retail area of about 83,900 square meters and a net rentable area of 59,900 square meters.
The purchase gives the listed trust its first property in Shenzhen, and brings Link REIT’s mainland portfolio to five properties, following Beijing’s EC Mall, Guangzhou’s Metropolitan Plaza, a pair of commercial blocks in Shanghai’s Corporate Avenue complex and Beijing’s Roosevelt Plaza.
Link REIT said in its announcement that it sees enormous upside potential in the newly acquired shopping mall and that it would apply its expertise in asset enhancement to attract footfall to the mall.
Currently, the shopping mall’s monthly income is about 23.78 million yuan, which mainly comes from rent. Major rent contributors include apparel and accessories retailers, restaurants and fast-food chains, and a Carrefour hypermarket.