GLC shopping spree heads Down Under

By Shannon Teoh

December 26, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 — CIMB and one of its main shareholders, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), are set to take over a A$230 million (RM740 million) office building in Canberra, the third big overseas property purchase by government-linked companies reported in the past ten days.

Last week, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) snapped up prime real estate in the heart of London for £350 million (RM1.7 billion) while EPF was also reported to have closed a RM1.5 billion loan to fund the acquisition of three properties in London for a total sum of RM2.4 billion.

The Australian newspaper today cited market sources as saying CIMB TrustCapital Advisors, part of CIMB Group, and EPF are seeking to buy the building from billionaire developer Lang Walker.

The deal for the headquarters of the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in the country’s capital is “believed to be in exclusive due diligence,” the newspaper reported today.

It added that CIMB and EPF, which holds a 12 per cent stake in Malaysia’s second biggest lender, moved in on the building after Austria’s SIGNA Property Fund withdrew recently.

“Market sources said if they proceeded to buy the building at 50 Marcus Clarke St, CIMB would own a 20 per cent stake, with EPF owning the remaining 80 per cent,” the daily wrote.

The Singapore-based CIMB TrustCapital Advisors had previously bought an office building in Melbourne’s Dockland for RM385 million.

EPF was also reported in August to be in talks to purchase British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s distribution centre outside central London for RM400 million, and two more properties in London for a total of RM1.5 billion.

This is in addition to an office building the state pension fund acquired in London last November for RM780 million as part of plans to invest up to £1 billion in the British property market.

PNB’s deal to take Milton and Shire House in London was reported to be “the first of many” by UK’s The Times, as Malaysia’s largest fund manager “is believed to have earmarked £1 billion for investing” in the British capital.

PNB had also acquired Santos Place, Brisbane in August last year for a reported RM840 million, the biggest real estate deal in Australia in 2010 up to then.