Malaysia’s second largest pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) has bought Kuala Lumpur’s Menara AIA Cap Square from Germany’s Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE).
JLL Malaysia advised UIRE on the deal, which is the largest office building sale in Malaysia in 2016.
The 41-storey Grade A office building comprises 601,796 square feet of net lettable space. Current tenants include insurance and financial companies such as AIA and Citibank.
“We’re delighted with this result for both the buyer and the seller,” says YY Lau, Managing Director, JLL Malaysia.
“This is a high profile property in a desirable location with an enviable occupancy rate and top quality tenants. With this purchase, KWAP is demonstrating its confidence in the Kuala Lumpur office market and we expect there will be increased interest in other Grade A office properties as a result, from both domestic and international investors.”
Earlier this year, KWAP sold its 18-storey office building, 88 Wood Street in the City of London, for US$345 million, which it bought in 2013 for US$275 million. Since then, the fund has been looking for investment opportunities in Malaysia and particularly in the capital.
Menara AIA Cap Square will be the second property KWAP owns in Kuala Lumpur, having purchased the 39-storey office block Integra Tower for RM1.06 billion (US$315 million) in April 2015.
This sale exemplifies that investors believe in Kuala Lumpur’s strong fundamentals in the short and medium term as Malaysia’s prime office investment location and that it remains competitive on a regional basis for attractive rental growth and returns,” says Nick Charlton, Associate Director, JLL Malaysia.
In 2015, JLL was named number one real estate investment advisory firm in Asia Pacific for the fifth year in a row by Real Capital Analytics (RCA), an independent body that monitors real estate transaction volumes worldwide.
Mangalesri Chandrasekaran, Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email mangales@propertyguru.com.my
