CAPITALAND will book a gain of about $260.7 million from selling a 45 per cent stake in a prime office building in Hong Kong.

CAPITALAND will book a gain of about $260.7 million from selling a 45 per cent stake in a prime office building in Hong Kong.

The property developer, South-east Asia’s largest, said yesterday that it had sold its share of AIG Tower, located in the territory’s central business district.

The deal values the building at HK$8.1 billion (S$1.57 billion), which works out to HK$22,042 per sq ft of net lettable area.

CapitaLand’s share of the building is worth about HK$3.6 billion, including the repayment of shareholder loans.

The stake was sold to American International Assurance (AIA), a unit of American International Group (AIG), the largest insurer in the world.

The transaction will add to AIA’s existing 45 per cent interest in the high-rise building. The remaining 10 per cent stake is held by Hong Kong’s Lai Sun Group, which is involved in property development and investment.

The 999-year leasehold property was built in April 2005 and is currently fully occupied.

Major tenants include AIG, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, CapitaLand, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Lai Sun Group and Oaktree Capital Management.

CapitaLand’s sale of its stake in AIG Tower comes after it sold a 50 per cent interest in Chevron House for a record price last month. It booked a gain of about $150.8 million from the deal.



Source: The Straits Times 17 Sept 07