Lippo Karawaci Eyes Singapore Trust
Francezka Nangoy. The Jakarta Globe, Jakarta - 23/05/2011
Lippo Karawaci, the nation’s largest property developer, announced on Monday that it would invest $165 million to boost its stake in its Singapore-based real estate investment trust and inject $2 billion of mall assets into the trust.
The developer plans to add 9.02 percent to its stake in the Lippo-Mapletree Indonesian Retail Trust, bringing its interest to 29.5 percent. It will also raise its stake in the trust’s holding company, Lippo-Mapletree Indonesian Retail Trust Management Ltd., to 40 percent.
It also plans to inject $2 billion into LMIRT’s current assets of $798 million.
Lippo also plans to increase the shopping center assets that are under its management to $4 billion in the next three or four years, from around $1.6 billion in assets currently.
“Lippo intends to encourage Lippo-Mapletree’s management to be much more focused on expanding its retail malls portfolio to $4 billion over three years,” Lippo president director Ketut B. Widjaja said in a statement.
“Lippo’s strategy is to build and or acquire malls and inject the enhanced mall assets into Lippo-Mapletree Indonesian Retail Trust. This will enhance our fee income and our recurring revenue.”
Lippo Karawaci and the Jakarta Globe are both affiliated with the Lippo Group.
Lippo Karawaci’s shares dropped 3 percent to close at Rp 650 on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Monday.