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Singapore state-owned GIC expanding its empire
A report in The Australian says that Singapore’s GIC Real Estate is usually the first port of call when there is a big property deal to be made anywhere in the world, appearing to be dripping with cash, at a time when other buyers have been starved in the credit crisis.
Early this year GIC RE, the real estate arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, the world’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund, invested more than $1 billion in Finland, Italy and Russia and it has amassed more than 200 assets in 30 countries.
Always a passive investor, GIC has partnered with some of the world’s best-known names in real estate when it enters new markets.
In February this year, it formed a partnership with ING Real Estate to buy a large shopping centre in Italy for E400 million ($769 million).
It also formed a joint venture with Citycon, Finland’s largest shopping centre owner, to buy a large shopping centre in Helsinki for E136 million.
In January, it bought a 25 per cent stake in a $US1.33 billion ($2 billion) township project in a joint venture with Russian property company PIK Group.
Last year GIC spent a total of $US7 billion on property deals around the world.
Against this backdrop, GIC’s investment in Australia is significant but not massive.
GIC is best described as an opportunistic, but shrewd investor, having a good eye for value and timing.
Over several months this year, GIC RE amassed a 6.16 per cent stake in Mirvac Group for a total of $175 million.
Last year it acquired a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Parramatta for $717 million.
It followed the Westfield deal with a joint venture with CFS Retail Property Trust and the Myer family to buy Myer’s flagship Melbourne store for $605 million.
The partners plan a $500 million five-year redevelopment for the Bourke Street emporium.
Headed by Seek Ngee Huat, a former long-time resident of Australia, GIC knows the Australian market intimately.
Its current holdings include some of Australia’s best-known luxury hotels, including the Shangri-La at the Rocks in Sydney and the Park Hyatt in Melbourne.
It also owns Sydney’s highly prized Queen Victoria Building and the Strand Arcade. Its investment in Australia is estimated at well over $3 billion.
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