Capitaland Integrtd Unit

Good morning. Welcome to CICT's briefing. I'm Alison from the investor relations team. I hope you had a good start to the morning. We had a very busy one. We released two announcements this morning. Our first half results and the proposed acquisition of the 55% interest in Capital Spring. Our CEO, Chun Xiang, is here. He will be covering them in his presentation later. We will actually also have the Q&A session. We'll be happy to hear your thoughts and address any questions that you may have. Without further ado, I'd like to invite Chun Xiang on to the stage. Chun Xiang, please.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We have quite a bit to cover today, so without further ado, we'll start. Maybe I'll just run through the presentations for both the results and the transaction, and then we'll just take some Q&A at the end. Okay. So we will try to, I think most people will be more interested in a transaction. So we will try to focus on some of the key highlights for the results first. Just go through the few slides before we talk about the transaction proper. I'm sure you guys have some burning questions on the transaction itself. So we will want to jump straight into that as soon as possible. Okay. So today, we announced the results. CICT delivered a fairly good set of performance for the first half of 2025. Gross revenue came in about $787.6 million. This is a slight decline of 0.5% year-on-year due to the absence of income from 21 Collier Key, which was, as you know, divested in November 2024. However, on a like-for-like basis, excluding 21 Collier Key, Gross revenue grew 1.4%, and similarly for MPI, it was down 0.4% year-on-year, but up 1.7% on a light-for-light basis. And these numbers really reflect the underlying strength and stability of our portfolio. Distributable income rose 12.4% year-on-year to a record $411.9 million for the first half. Unit holders will be pleased to also know that our first half DPU increased 3.5% to a new high of 5.62 cents despite an enlarged unit base as a result of the EFR that we did late last year. This was underpinned by the full six-month contribution from Ion Orchard, better performance of our existing portfolio as well as lower interest expenses. Our proactive capital management continues to put CICT in a favorable position. Aggregate leverage improved to 37.9%, down 0.6 percentage points from end 2024, giving us greater financial flexibility. At the same time, our average cost of debt has declined to 3.4% from 3.6% six months ago, supported by the easing interest rate environment, as well as our proactive refinancing efforts. These metrics underscore the robustness of our balance sheet and the resilience of our diversified portfolio. Operationally, our portfolio remains robust. Overall occupancy stood at 96.3%, with whale holding steady at 3.2 years. Tenant retention rates remain high, with retail and office showing improvement compared to the first quarter. This also reflects the tenant confidence in our properties. Rent reversion for the office portfolio was 4.8%, for the retail portfolio, 7.7%, with suburban malls achieving 8.8% and downtown malls 6.9%. As we guided earlier, we expect rental reversions to moderate to a more sustainable pace in the coming quarters. Tenant sales per square foot increased 17.9%, but this was largely due to the inclusion of ION in the numbers, excluding ION. Tenant sales per square foot was about flat, but shopper traffic increased by about 3.4%, indicating that conversion opportunities are intact. In May, we completed the divestment of service residence component of Capital Spring. which actually allow us to do the transaction that we are announcing today as well. So we'll talk a bit about that later. So CICP's 45% stake was valued at $126 million. We divested it at an exit yield of approximately 3.6%. Proceeds were used to reduce debt and support working capital, demonstrating our disciplined capital recycling and focus on financial flexibility. And our AEIs, which is our other value-add strategy, at Galileo and IMM building are progressing well. Galileo has reached 97.7% committed occupancy. We target handover to the anchor tenant from late third quarter. Income contribution will ramp up meaningfully from 2026. At IMM, the AEI space for Phase 3 has been handed over. with post-AEI occupancy at about 98.6%. With over 100 outlet stores, IMM continues to strengthen its position as a regional outlet destination. We have two AEIs in the pipeline, commencing in the fourth quarter. At Lot 1, we will be adding an additional 15,000 square feet of NLA at Basement 2, leveraging URA's surplus car park conversion scheme. The space will focus on daily essentials and convenience-driven retail. We will also enhance the connectivity to the mall with a new sheltered bridge extension that links directly to the residential area across the road. The mall will remain fully operational throughout the AEI and we target to complete this in the first quarter of 2027. In the previous quarter, we also shared that we have some AEI works planned at Tampines Mall. Here are some of the details. In line with LTA's pedestrianization plans, we will be rejuvenating the main entrance at Tampines Mall and refreshing the tenant mix and increase product offerings through the improved configuration. The works will be carried out while the mall remains fully operational and we target to complete this AEI in the third quarter next year. So that concludes the key highlights of our first half results, and I'm happy to take some questions on this later. But before that, I think we would like to proceed to share about our other announcement released this morning, which is the proposed acquisition of our remaining 55% interest in Capital Springs. Okay, so having walked through our first half results, which reflects the resilience and quality of our portfolio, we want to now look at this particular transaction that we announced this morning. I'm sure a lot of you have many questions. We'll try to address most of the important points in the presentation, but if you have any further questions, we can take them later. As a background, currently we own 45%, as most of you are well aware, of Capital Spring, the commercial component, excluding the service resident. The proposed acquisition is to acquire the remaining 55% interest from our partners, Capital Land Development, which owns 45%, and Mitsubishi Estate, which owns the remaining 10%. The agreed property value on 100% basis is $1.9 billion. which is the average of two valuations done by Knight Frank and Savills, which is both appointed by the manager and the trustee respectively. We understand that the cap rates assumed by the two appraisers in these latest valuations are compressed by 5 to 10 basis points compared to that of the valuation assumptions in December 2024. That is, from 3.75% back then to now 3.65% and 3.7% respectively. Based on the agreed property value of $1.9 billion, the entry yield is approximately 4.2% based on the first half 2025 MPI. As CICT is acquiring units in Glory Office Trust for the remaining 55% interest, the total acquisition outlay is about $482 million. Capital Spring is a 51-storey integrated development comprising of premium grade A office tower, ancillary retail, as well as a service residence component, which we divested in May 2025, as pointed out earlier. I think most of you are familiar with this building. It's not a new building in our portfolio. We already previously owned 25%. We have provided regular operational updates on the building, so it should be something that is not unfamiliar to all of you and to us as well, which is why we like the asset and we are proposing to do the acquisition. We like the property as it has consistently performed well, maintaining almost full occupancy as at 30th June 2025, underpinned by quality tenants from diverse trade sectors. The proposed acquisition aligns with our strategic goal to deepen our presence in Singapore, our core market. With this move, our Singapore exposure will increase from 94% to 95%, reinforcing our commitment to deliver long-term value and resilience to our unit holders. Apart from being a high-performing asset, Capital Spring has received several recognition for its architectural excellence and commitment to sustainability and inclusive design. They further affirm the quality of the property. This slide shows our ownership structure before and after the acquisition. It's quite straightforward. We won't spend too much time on this. Next. So, why are we buying the remaining 55% interest in Capital Spring? I think the investment merit and the transaction rationale is quite clear, but we will articulate them more clearly in this slide. We do believe in the asset. As an owner, we have seen the performance. We were able to track the potential and the performance of the underlying asset over the last, call it four to five years since it was completed. This acquisition aligns with our commitment for long-term value creation. Capital Spring is a prime example of a development-led growth, transforming from a multi-storey car park, if you guys recall, that used to be the Golden Shoe Car Park, into a vibrant commercial hub in the heart of the CBD. It offers entry yield in the low 4% and potential upside, especially given the limited pipeline of new Grade A office supply in the core CBD. Beyond financials, Capital Spring enhances the quality and resilience of our portfolio, being a premium Grade A property. Importantly, this acquisition is accretive to DPU, 1.1% on a pro forma first half 2025 basis. and reinforces our position as the proxy for high-quality Singapore commercial real estate. Let us go through the detail in the subsequent slides. So Capital Spring is more than just a building. It is a reflection of our value creation strategy via redevelopment and portfolio reconstitution. We started this journey in 2017 with our JV partners to redevelop the site and completed it in November 2021. As part of our portfolio reconstitution, we divested the service residence component and an exit yield of 3.6% this year. And now we are acquiring the remaining 55%. Capital Spring is a thoughtfully designed space that brings together work, live, play in one integrated development. Since its completion in 2021, Capital Springs stands among the best premium grade A office assets in Singapore CBD. The property has three elements that reflect our commitment to creating spaces that go beyond functionality, offering a holistic experience that attracts and retains tenants. One of the key reasons we are confident in Capital Springs' long-term value is the limited pipeline of new grade A office supply in the core CBD. As you can see from the table on the right, There is no material new supply in 2025 and limited developments coming on stream in the subsequent years. This supply-demand dynamic supports renter stability and potential upside for well-located high-quality assets such as Capital Spring. You'll be further supported by flight-to-quality demand as occupiers prioritise premium office space for relocations. Capital Springs average rents for expiring office leases remain healthy with a well-spread lease expiry profile, giving us flexibility to capture renter growth over time. In the last two years, Capital Spring has signed leases with positive rental reversions in the range of 5% to 7%. Specifically for the first half of 2025, up to now, the positive rent reversions achieved was approximately about 7% for Capital Spring. And tenant retention for the building is above 90%. Capital Springs occupancy has been strong since its completion, anchored by leading financial institutions and financial services. It is underpinned by diverse business trade sectors, supporting stable cash flows and enhances portfolio resilience. One of the strengths of Capital Springs is its tenant profile. Post-acquisition, J.P. Morgan joins our top 10 tenants alongside other well-established names. In terms of portfolio trade mix, we remain diversified across trade sectors, with banking, insurance and financial services increasing to about 18.9% from 17.6%. With this acquisition, we are strengthening our ownership and further reinforcing CICT's leading position in Singapore's office market. From this map, you can see all our office properties located from Tanjong Pagar MRT to Rappers Place and City Hall MRT stations. They give us scale, visibility and relevance in the market. Being diddly entrenched in the CBD allows us to better serve our tenants, respond to market shifts and continue to deliver long-term value to our unit holders. Post-acquisition, our exposure to office will increase from around 38% to 40% of our total portfolio value. Our Singapore exposure will grow to 95%, as mentioned earlier. This reinforces our strategy of being Singapore focused with high quality assets in prime locations. As such, the acquisition of Capital Spring will further reinforce CICD's position as a proxy for high quality Singapore commercial real estate. In terms of the financial effects, so let's look at the impact following our acquisitions. The acquisition is expected to deliver DPU accretion of 1.1% on a pro-forma basis for the first half 2025. This assumes the acquisition was completed in 1st January 2025 and CICT had operated 100% of the commercial component up to 30th June 2025. I think pretty respectable accretion numbers, considering that this transaction, based on the billion-dollar total value, it's about, call it, 3% to 4% of our total assets under management. So to deliver a 1% accretion is a pretty respectable number. The funding will be supported by a private placement with proceeds to cover the estimated purchase consideration and vendor loans as well as transaction-related expenses. Any remaining proceeds will be used to pare down debt. So we are balancing growth with financial prudence. Our aggregate leverage remains consistently below 40%. Post-acquisition, leverage is expected to be at about 38.3%. which is lower than our gearing level at 31st March 2025. So this is a quick table of expenses relating to the total acquisition outlay. So subject to completion adjustments, the purchase consideration takes into account, amongst other things, 55% of the agreed property value and net liabilities. For CLD's 45% interest, CICT will receive will pay a 1% acquisition fee in units, given that it is an interested party transaction. Post acquisition, there's no change in the number of properties, portfolio NLA, and will as this, because our current 45% interest in CCT, in the capital spring, has already included these numbers in our current portfolio. So there's no additional increase in terms of number of properties as well as NLA. However, the property value will increase to $27 billion, while portfolio committed occupancy will be up slightly at 96.4% instead of 96.3% as of June 2025 on a pro forma basis. Okay, so I hope I've given you some good insights on the transaction and why we are entering into the transaction today. If you have any questions, we are happy to take them in the Q&A segment very fast. Mervyn is not here today, but Darren is just as fast as we realize. Okay.

Can we invite the management team onto the stage for the Q&A, please? Before we start the Q&A, I would like to introduce the management team. On Chun Xiang's right, we have Mei Lin, our CFO. And on Chun Xiang's left, we have Jack Bin, head of investment. And on her left, we have Yi Chan, head of portfolio management. So some housekeeping rules before we start. If you have any questions, please raise your hand and wait for the mic to come to you. Try to keep to two questions at a time, and we'll come back to you if you have more. For those online, if you have any questions, please put them in the chat box. With that out of the way, we'd like to open the floor to questions. Okay, I see perhaps Terrence, please.

Thank you very much. This is Terence Key from J.P. Morgan. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Congrats on the very, very strong results. DPU growth is strong and of course on the acquisition of Capital Spring. I would like to double click a little bit more into the acquisition yield. You mentioned 4.2% yield. Maybe could you highlight whether there's any potential upside to the yield and in terms of the rentals which are upcoming for renewal, what is the market rents today and how under-rented is the property? And for my second question, I'd like to ask on what's the assumed financing cost for the transaction? Thanks.

Okay. Thanks, Terrence, for the questions. Maybe I'll start and then I'll let each one and Malin jump in on the rents and financing questions as well. So in terms of upside, okay, so we have announced this transaction at an entry yield of 4.2%. So last year it was 4.1%. So this year is 4.2. So it's going up on uptrend in the right direction that we like. But if you look at this 4.2% is actually based on straight line rent, which is typically how we are announced, which is based on accounting MPI. Typically, accounting MPI and cash MPI, not that much difference. But because it's a relatively new building, you would expect slightly more incentives at the beginning for the first term. So in this case, actually, the cash MPI is slightly higher than the accounting MPI. And then when you renew, you are likely to then reference the cash rent rather than the accounting rent. So with that, we do expect that a renewal occurs. It's likely to track closer to the cash rents and cash MPI going forward. And the cash MPI actually is higher than the accounting MPI today. And we distribute based on cash MPI. So that's one. So that's kind of a roundabout way of answering where the growth is going to come from. But if you want to zoom into the actual rentals, safe to say, I think we have covered in the presentation, in the last two years, rental reversions has been positive, ranging from about 5% to 7%, depending on which lease we are talking about. But of course, we are still at the beginning of the first-term renewals, so there aren't that many renewals that were renewed. Most of our renewals, as you can see from the slide, is happening in 2027 to 2028. I think we do expect positive rental reversions for most of these leases coming out for expiry. So this year, rental reversions were about 7% across all the leases that were renewed in the first, call it six, seven months of this year. And then you have seen the expiring rents. I think we put up in the slide as well. They range from about 12 plus to about $13 per square foot over the next two years. While it looks relatively high for CBD office, if you look at, depending on which report we refer to, but I think for Capital Spring, we are trading at above average CBD rent. And so we are quite confident that we are able to renew them at positive rental reversions. So that's the first part of the question. Each one, do you have anything to add on the rental?

I think just uncover pretty much. I think first and foremost, one of the upsides hopefully comes from JPM when we have the renewal. But I mean, if you look at it broadly, the few anchor tenants, we have SMBC, we have Millennial Capital and of course JPM. The other two of the anchors, the deals were kind of signed around the period of COVID. So we can understand that rents then is a little bit on the compressed side of things. So hopefully at the next new renewal, we will have a bit of upside from there.

Second question is on financing costs, right?

On the loan, at GOT level, there is a project loan that we will be taking over with the entity. And the interest rate we have assumed is 2.7%. This is on the basis that we are resetting the interest rate on the loan to the current prevailing levels.

If I may follow up, I mean, since the building was open, I think in 4Q21, Raffles Place rents are up about 18%. Is this something that is potentially possible, doable in terms of rent reversions, let's say when you're renewing some of the anchors?

Again, I have to ask JPM whether they want to contribute to the 18%. But I think first and foremost, I would say that definitely, if I look at the property now, actually post-Capital Spring, we have one or two other competitions, and we know what is the supply that's coming up in the next three years. And I mean, I know the property pretty well. I'm pretty confident to say it will remain as one of the top buildings within CBT, right? So definitely with this whole flight to quality, and there's not a lot of alternatives, I think it will give us a very good position in negotiations but having said that we are also quite mindful that you know there's a balance drawing between when we talk about big anchors versus smaller tenants right the ones that you know the the rent delta that we see between anchors uh like uh and then of course some of the later tenants where they are smallest stops taking the top floors right that's quite a big delta But we will see some meaningful, we won't all see everything is like $16, $17, right? But we will probably see some meaningful upsides in the next few years, especially if I see the company still put a lot of priority in having a well-thought-out space with all these kind of amenities. And I will say that since when we did Cabell Spring, we also see a few of our neighbours in general have also actively upgrade and redevelop the property. So there's a bit of a momentum shift back to Raffles Place as a key business district compared to MBSE area. So I think that's a positive sign for us.

Thank you very much. Thank you for that benchmark. We will use that as a reference point for our next negotiation with one of our anchor tenants. But I think just to add on, rental aside, I think, I mean, you obviously working in the building, I think the feedback from our tenants is very positive. I mean, almost all our tenants, I think they have given us very good feedback on the building. I mean, in terms of specs, in terms of the amenities and in terms of the location as well. So I think tenants generally love all aspects of the building. And that which is partly the reason why it's 99.9% occupied. And actually we do get inquiries of existing tenants wanting to expand, but the challenge for us is finding space for them to expand within the existing building.

Thank you for your question, Terence. Can we have Derek, then we'll have Joy.

Alright, thanks. Derek from DBS here. I just asked two questions, one on the transaction and one on the results. So far, I noted that you mentioned there's a bit of a cap rate comprehension, 3.75 to 3.6 versus where you see VALS at the end of the year. I'm just curious whether should we take that as a benchmark that your office portfolio also will enjoy a bit of a compression end of the year. So NAV today is considered low versus what we expect to see end of the year. My second question is something that's been asked a lot and can you give us an update on this ion text transparency?

So two quick easy ones. Yeah. Second one not so easy. The second one I will defer to Merlion. I'll take the easy one. What's the first? Oh, cap rate compression. Okay. We expected this question. uh okay so i think the the well firstly interest rates have dropped and risk free rate has declined quite significantly in the last six months so no surprises that there's a little bit of cap rate compression Whether it will extend to the rest of the portfolio, we have to ask the valuers at the end of the year. I can't really give an answer to that. But if you compare that to the rest of our buildings in our portfolio, I think it's more or less in line in any case. I mean, 5 to 10 BIPs. I mean, our cap rates are fairly transparent. So if you compare it to two similar buildings in that location, it will be Capital Green and maybe Capital Sky Green. So they were in a range of 3.6 to 3.7, 5% cap rate. So I think 3.6, 5 to 3.7 is still well within that range. So may or may not lead to movements in other cap rates. So I think that's kind of, but I always feel that our NAV is undervalued.

Okay, the question on ION text transparency, we have made progress in terms of having some clarity on the structure, the proposed structure that we think will provide for that text transparency, but The question would be the discussion that we're supposed to have with the JV partner. So that one is still something that we have to engage them to talk about the details. It's actually quite complex. So it's not going to be immediate. If anything, it would take at least a year.

I'll keep that as a surprise. Thanks. That's all.

Thank you. Two questions for me. First, on the transaction itself, in terms of anchor tenant, when is the earliest time we can actually see some of the repricing coming through? And if also you can talk broadly about rental reversion outlook for office portfolio in Singapore. So that's question number one. Question number two on interest expense. The 2.7%, can you do that immediately after takeover or there is a repricing gap on the debt? And also, what's your guidance for your full portfolio cost of debt? Thank you.

So, I think for the first question, for rental reversion, there will always be leases coming out for renewal. This year, I think there's not that much left. I think there's only 3% of leases coming out for renewal. All of them, I think, are already in advanced negotiation, about to be signed, and positive venture reversions. So that's a few. I think next year we have about 15%, if I'm not wrong, according to the chart, and then subsequently 36%. So I think the first major anchor tenant will probably be in 27%, and then 28%. I think it's quite clear if you look at the stacking of the expiries anyway, that the two-angle tenants are coming out in 2027-2028. I think that answers the first question.

The second question on... Sorry, second part of first question is the broader office rental revolution.

So, I think the trend... Wow, this is a tough question. Maybe I'll leave it to each one. I think generally we do expect the trend to be quite similar, maybe slight moderation from the first half. I think the supply is actually still quite tight. That's how we feel. The question is whether there's demand to drive the rents going forward. I think organically we do see demand for existing tenants to expand space within our buildings. most of the time our challenge is finding space for them because most of our buildings are quite near full occupancy. So I will say that if I were to, I will say that it will be quite similar trends to the first time, maybe with a slight moderation.

So if you talk about guidance for the reversion for full year basis, you are still on track probably looking at mid-singles. Hopefully on the better half of the mid-singles, yeah.

Okay, the question on the assumed interest rate reset would be, I mean, we intend to do it before completion at the JV level. So when we take over, it will be based on the prevailing market rate. And the guidance on the cost of debt for the group, we have 3.4% as of June. So we're looking to... for full year this year will be closer to the mid-low trees level. It will inch down. Sorry, just the 2.7% is based on what time year? We've assumed it based on fixed between three to five years.

And I can take that as assumptions for all your upcoming dead leaf vines?

Well, you see, average cost of debt is the average number. So within that number, there are some rates that are higher, some rates that are lower. So when we look at the prospect for, you know, trending down, that will also depend on whether, you know, there are some lower cost debt that will be reset to prevailing levels. And actually, we do have some euro borrowings that is at, you know, historically low rates that were locked in like five, seven years ago. So that will impact on the magnitude of the easing interest rate.

Thank you. We expect to complete the acquisition in third quarter. I saw Rachel has a question. Then after we can go to Sian.

Hi, morning Chen Xiang and team. Congrats on your first acquisition. Maybe just, I think most of my questions are answered, but maybe just go to, in terms of retail rent reversions, I think this quarter we saw that the suburban is holding a little bit better versus the downtown. So if you could give us a sense, your guidance on rent reversions and how is ION tracking? Thank you.

So I think we have, I think last few quarters, we have done quite well in terms of rental reversions. Retail on average was about 10%, but we know that that was not sustainable in the longer term. Firstly, because it was coming off a slightly lower base. I think we have also guided that slightly to moderate going forward. which it has now it's about now we are averaging what about 7.7 with suburban at 8.8 and downtown 6.9 so I think this quarter there were also some leases that we think were slightly out of the norm So it did drag the reversion down slightly compared to where it was end of last quarter. The question is whether this reversion is likely to continue for the rest of the year. I think now that it has come down to these levels from 10%, it's probably slightly more sustainable. I think we're probably guiding from closer to these levels, closer to the end of the year. Maybe mid to somewhere between mid-single digits to where we are currently showing for this June 30th.

Aion, how is it performing?

Aion generally has done quite well for us. If you look at it compared to our underwriting assumptions, If you recall, I think when we acquired Aion, kind of to make the numbers work, we were at one point looking at giving higher MFU, which we didn't have to do. So that speaks volumes about how the transaction itself has contributed without having to make the subsequent adjustments that was needed. So I think ION as a whole has done better than what we expected. But of course, having said that, we know that the whole world is suffering because in terms of luxury spending, and Singapore is not spared. So the trend is definitely down on a year-on-year basis for luxury spending. But I think Aion is holding out well when compared to the rest of the world. I think Singapore for some reason, large spending is down but not as much as the rest of the world. So we are hoping that, we are doing quite a bit of work at Aion as well. I think if you have visited Aion, you will see that there's a lot of hoarding. This is by design. It's not due to tenants leaving or retention remains quite high. Actually, it's part of our asset enhancement to bring some of the activity to the higher floors. uh because if you notice ion actually is two different moles there's a there's a slightly more mass market more at the basement there is a kind of a lux more at it and then the third and fourth floor are slightly quieter compared to the basement and ground so so we also trying to improve the performance of the asset by trying to move some of the performing tendons up and then opening up space at the ground floor for potentially new tendons and a new tendon mix. So it rejuvenates the mole as well as improves the vibrancy of the entire mole for ion. yeah so the other way we the other thing that we have been doing is also if you notice now we have more double duplex and triplex stores in ION so that is also a way to improve the performance of them more because For example, instead of a well-performing brand occupying 2,000 or 5,000 square feet on one floor, if we have them at 2,500 on ground floor, 2,500 on second floor, it has to bring the footfall up to the second floor while preserving the ground floor for a larger variety of tenants. So that's the other thing that we are trying to do in ION as well.

But in terms of the tenant space, it's pretty much similar.

Oh, yeah. No, not in terms of NLA.

Okay. Then my next question is, I know you have just done this acquisition. The next question is, what's next? So, I mean, just to hear your thoughts, is divestment your focus? Or would that be redevelopment? I think URA Master Plan has a few targeted areas that your malls are in. So, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So I think that's a very simple answer. It's inorganic. I mean, there's nothing for us to talk about unless there's something definitive anyway. So the answer to the first question in terms of inorganic acquisition, there's not much for us to comment on. But we are always looking for opportunities. I think the current environment also allows us to explore for new and interesting opportunities, given our lower cost of funding going forward. So that's helpful. Whether there will be any divestments, I think we're always re-evaluating our portfolio. So, in terms of, I mean, you have seen us divest two assets in the last, call it, eight months, nine months, service residents as well as two colleagues. So, we're always reviewing whether it makes sense in terms of any of our assets. I think the existing Singapore portfolio generally looks quite good the way it is now. I think most of the assets are doing very well. Most of them are trading well in terms of yield. And most of them, we do see the potential in terms of growth going forward. And also with good cost of funding, there's also less need to do divestment to fund future acquisitions. So I think, okay, so that's on the inorganic part and asset recycling. In terms of asset enhancement, I think that's one of the core pillars of value-add creation for us. So we will continue to go down that path. We have already talked about, I mean, we have already completed two, well, completing two this year. uh so we are already on the lookout for the next two which you know we have just announced uh one being lot one the other one being company small uh slightly smaller in scale but still uh something that we i mean there's uh only so much you can do in terms of existing organic ai unless sort of a complete redevelopment which as you really pointed out we can also explore for some of our sites that are slightly older We are quite fortunate, the draft master plan from URA, actually a lot of the precincts that have been identified are in areas where we already have a presence in. So it is helpful for us in two ways. One is we can participate in the rejuvenation. The other way is even if we don't do anything, the rejuvenation will actually help us anyway. So either way we benefit. So for us, whether we participate in the rejuvenation, I think depends on the commercial calculation. I mean, to be fair to our union holders, I think whatever we put into the redevelopment must be commensurate with the returns that comes with it. So we are studying all the plans, but I think unfortunately we don't have anything specific that we can disclose. It's quite preliminary. I mean, the plans just came out last month, so we're working with the authorities to see whether there's anything that can be harvested.

Okay, thank you so much for the comment.

Okay, Shen. Hi, morning. Can I follow up on the question, right? If you think about the next 12 months, how would you prioritize between portfolio management, acquisition, and enhancement? Because CICD has been very active over the past 12 months, so just trying to get a sense, how should we think about timeline? Okay.

Yeah, we want to do everything. Okay, so I think, I mean, there's no, I think it depends on opportunities. So there's no, there's no straight answer to that question, unfortunately. I think, Asset management is bread and butter. I think it's okay. We do that every day. So, you know, we have a team that is very good at what it does in terms of enhancing the performance of the assets. So I think that's an ongoing basis. And then asset enhancement, like I said, is also one of the bread and butter for us. Although it's not a daily thing that we do, but we always want to We are constantly looking for areas to improve the asset performance, especially for some of our more tired, dated properties. I don't think it answers your question directly, but if you look at our track record over the last few years, I think we focus on all three things at the same time. I don't think it's a zero-sum game. Just because we focus on asset enhancement doesn't detract us from the possibility of doing acquisitions. In fact, we have different teams doing different things. So we are able to do all at one go. So it's not necessarily mutually exclusive in that sense, which is kind of where the question is kind of driving at. The question is that they are mutually exclusive, but actually they are kind of not. And also after acquisition, we always have to do, you know, we don't just acquire and then leave it as it is. We continue to improve, like what we are doing with ION, you know, and some of the other assets that we have acquired along the way. And then at some point, you know, do asset enhancement as well. So, don't know if that answers your question.

Can I also get your thoughts on fundraising? I guess cost of equity has came down, right? Do you roll out more fundraising over the next six months?

We won't do fundraising for fundraising's sake, let's put it that way. So if we were to do fundraising, it has to come with attractive acquisition like today. An acquisition that is accretive, that adds long-term value to our portfolio. that is something that we think will add long-term value to the unit holders as well. So in that sense, if there is an opportunity that comes out that requires fundraising, then so be it. But it must go hand in hand with acquisition that makes sense. but having said that our gearing is it also depends on the size of the transaction right i mean we are now at maybe about just call it 38 we still have some day room technically but we try not to to get that if it's a small transaction we don't actually need to do equity fundraising or like small aeis or redevelopments um yeah so i think the short answer to your question is uh we won't roll it out but we'll only do it if it makes sense

Can we now turn to the online question? Mei-Ping will likely help.

Hi, morning. I have a few questions from online. So the first one is from Chen Zhe. He's asking, given that cap rates have remained firm, why is the exit yield at 4.2% for, I think, capital spring, higher than maple tree and since 3.8% yield? The first question. I think actually the 4.2% we talk about is the entry yield.

So he's asking us, how do we manage to get it cheaper than Anson?

The maple tree Anson one has a slightly different tenure. The remaining tenure is different. So...

I think I can add that it's probably different timing as well.

The land tenure, the remaining land tenure is like 82 years.

Okay. The second question is from KH. He's asking us how much tax savings approximately can we expect from ION Orchard? It is probably relating to the tax transparency.

I think as Malian pointed out, I think don't hold your breath for the tax transparency. it's uh it's probably well it's it it can happen but it will take a long time uh the restructuring might take a long time so i think she has mentioned that it will take probably at least a year um so it's uh just take it as a positive surprise if it happens subsequently

Okay, the third question is on operations. So from Jardine DDS, noted that the suburban sales was flat year on year. What would our suburban mall sales trend be if we strip out IMM AEI?

So the splattage is slightly down if we take out the... Currently, it's slightly down. So if we take it out, IMM format, it will be also flattish, but it's slightly up. It's about 0.2% up. I'm sorry. I'll just probably repeat that. If we take out IMM AEI, excluding that, it will still be flattish, slightly up at 0.2% across both quantum as well as the per square foot basis.

Okay, then there's a couple of questions from Bloomberg Dexter. Okay, so firstly is that Dexter is asking that as recently as May, the management was guiding that it was not in a rush to acquire capital spring stake. So what changed in the last few months? That is his first question. Second question is that there has been some chatter about the retail rents. So whether we have heard similar feedback from tenants and any concerns about the, I think, the talks about rental controls going forward.

Okay, so I can't remember what we say. Did we say that we're not in a rush to get capital spring? Okay, but well, May to August, three months is not really a rush. So I think, okay, I think on a more serious note, I think it always depends on the opportunity, the timing, the market conditions. I think all along we knew that Capital Spring was something that we could execute because it was an option on our part. So we could have done it sort of at our own timing. Then the question is, when is the best time? To me, actually, now is probably as good a time as any for a few reasons. One is, as we mentioned, I think the cost of funding is attractive. It has come down over the last few months. So that makes the acquisition more attractive in that sense from a financial perspective. Secondly, the core option is based on formula. And the formula, I think the formula is publicly available information. There's actually an embedded creed. in terms of the purchase price. So if you were to buy it later, actually the price continues to go up. So buying early actually allows us to buy it slightly cheaper as well. I think thirdly, the option expires, while we are not in a hurry, but option expires November next year. The closer we get to the option expiry, the more our hands are tied because this transaction, most people know, will need to go with equity fundraising because the transaction size is fairly significant. So if we leave too little room between the transaction timing as well as the option expiry, then the overhang will be a lot more significant. As in that the market will be expecting the transaction, in which case it makes it harder for us to do the transaction as well. So I think now is probably as good a time as any. Was there a second question?

Yeah, the second question is more on the retail rents. Whether we have heard feedback from tenants?

Oh, on the recent online... The one we always refer them to Irvin's article on Lincoln. Okay, but jokes aside, I think actually if we talk to tenants, You know, a lot of the online backlash on rents is not really coming from more tenants. Because a lot of them are coming from tenants that are operating in maybe like strata units, shop houses. For a few reasons, typically either the previous rent was very low and then suddenly there was a re-rating of the rent because a new landlord took over or maybe because they just had very low rents for a long time. Because in a mall, we will never check out rents by 50% as you all know. You never see rental reversions at 50%. We wish we could, but it never ever happens. In fact, we are guiding mid to 7%, 70% kind of rental reversion over three year lease, which is about 2% to 2.5% per annum kind of escalation, which kind of tracks inflation, which is the way it should be. I mean, in the long term, renters should track long term inflation rates. So, Okay, so I think one is I think we're not getting that kind of negative feedback from our tenants. I think the other thing is also I think tenants also appreciate that the landlord makes a big difference in terms of the footfall, in terms of the marketability of the mall, and in terms of the driving of the traffic and footfall to the mall with our marketing promotions, with our loyalty program, as well as our tenant mix. So I think they And there's a reason why most of the malls that we have are still close to 100% occupancy, because the tenants are able to see the value that we provide to the space. Anything else?

I'll probably just say that if we look back at the past few quarter results, every time when we talk about reversions, I've always stressed that the importance is really to ensure that it's also sustainable to our retailers. And because it's a long-term relationship that we have, and I think at the start of the session, if you could see some of the things we put out, there's actually a lot of our tenants who have been with us for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. And the important thing is really to make sure that we have a mix that actually makes sense for the community that it serves, right? Whether you're a downtown mall, whether you're in a suburban mall. uh so of course there's a unfortunate that you know in the media sometimes we pick up one or two examples and then we make an article of it rent is one component i think the retailers nowadays face a lot of pressures from all fronts one we have a consumer um habits is changing um at the same time you have also manpower cost manpower limitation and stuff like that and what's important for us is not just looking at cutting rents per se right it's There's no point cutting rents, right? If end up your mall, it's irrelevant. You don't get footfall, you don't have . The important thing is constantly having that engagement and I think our asset managers or leasing managers is doing that on the grounds, talking to tenants to see how to help them grow their business, how to make sure that they are performing well within our malls. So I will say that at this point, definitely it's something that we are continuously working on. We don't take it for granted, right? And we will continue to make sure that, you know, across our malls, we keep that vibrancy, keep that relevance. And I think it reflects in the numbers that we are seeing now and hopefully can keep that going forward.

Okay, just last two questions from online. First would be the operating margins, whether we can give any guidance for this year, also to 2026, whether any further savings in utilities. This operation. And then the second one, it's more about moving to overseas for Germany and Australia, whether the West House, the asset performing, and whether the income contribution from Galileo has kicked in. Yep.

Maybe I'll take the second question first, and then Yishun can take the first question. So I think overseas performance, actually, overseas performance of our assets, we are actually quite, we think that, okay, let's look at the market separately, right, Germany and Australia. I think Germany, we only have two assets. One is Galileo, which is basically the risk, right? It's already fully tenanted to a single tenant with a small retail space that is the reason why... Retail space plus a villa space that takes out a very small percentage. That's why the occupancy is not 100%. But otherwise, it's largely de-risked. And the income recognition, we'll hand over phase one to the tenant, hopefully by the end of third quarter. And then there's a phase two that we will hand over possibly end of the year or beginning of next year. So then the income recognition will start after we hand over. Maybe with some rent free, but generally, I would say expect most of the income to only start beginning of next year. Okay, so that's on Germany. So the Germany occupancy that we normally show in the slide doesn't include Galileo because it's still under construction, I mean, renovation. So if we add that in, actually our occupancy for Germany probably tracks closer to about 90%. 80% is the remaining asset, which is the one at the airport. But I think for Germany, we are also quite constructive. The government has actually been putting out a lot of news and measures to pump right the economy. So we are hopeful that this will help translate into the general economy and eventually to real estate rents at some point in time. I think the other thing that is happening in Germany, of course, is that the euro rates are also coming off slowly. but it's definitely in the right direction. So we think that that is also conducive for the real estate market eventually. So I think give it some time. I think we do think that the market will turn around, hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months. I think in Australia, we have three assets. Actually, Australia, out of the three assets, two assets are actually doing quite well. Close to full occupancy for 101 Miller as well as 66 Goldman Sachs. The one asset that is slightly more challenging is Hunter Arthur Street, which is close to about 80% occupancy. But we are seeing green shoots. I was just in Sydney with a team last month, and actually the Sydney market looks like it's bottoming up. I mean, based on the conversations that we have with... the stakeholders there, the tenants as well as the consultants, it does seem like people are taking a fairly slight bullish turn on the Sydney real estate market. But of course, like all general CBD markets, I think the one that moves first is the core CBD. So we are seeing that happening in Sydney already and hopefully that momentum will then spread to the peripheral CBD area, including some of the areas where we have assets in. And in terms of leasing, we are also actually, we're seeing a lot of inquiries for some of the space. So we are hoping that some of this, fingers crossed, will lead to conversions in the next three months. So potentially there could also be some improvements in the occupancy for some of the, for our assets in Australia.

Just back to the first question on the utilities, we do expect it to be relatively flat-ish if not we can build savings from there.

Do we have any more questions from the floor? Terrence? Terrence?

Thank you. Maybe two more questions from my side. I guess for Junction 8, during the draft master plan, they've unveiled new plans for sub-regional centre in Bishan and there's a lot of potential office developments. It's in the draft master plan. So I wanted to understand a little bit more whether Junction 8 could benefit from extra-potential GFA And second question from me, I wanted to understand a bit more about ION too. Are you able to share the reversions and the cash occupancy for ION? Thanks.

Okay, the easier one first, Junction 8. I think Junction 8, okay, so I think that Just overall, actually we are quite happy with the way the draft master plan has come out because I think two key things, right? One is decentralization of office, as you mentioned. I think some of the regional hubs that have been identified are like Jurong, Bishan, Paya Lebar, Tampines. Why is this good for us? It's good for us, if you notice, none of it talks about increasing supply in the CBD. we only have office in the cbd so that one that will benefit our i think overall positioning of our and the supply demand dynamics of all of the buildings that we have in cbd including the one transaction that we're announcing today so i think that's very uh conducive for us um secondly All the things that we have outside the CBD are malls. And if you add the office buildings in some of these hubs and neighbourhood centres, it's started to make it more vibrant. higher footfall and rejuvenate some of these town centers and i think in in some of these areas that we have more and we are likely to benefit regardless of whether we increase so so we already we think that this actually bodes well for our overall portfolio in singapore in general so that's just on a high level uh specifically for bishan whether there will be additional gfa We can't answer that question right now because it really depends. I mean, that's a conversation we need to have with the authorities. So, it also depends on whether it makes sense overall, right? Because there is existing income at Junction 8, so to make the development make sense, there needs to be a fairly significant uplift in terms of GFA. If there's no increase in GFA, definitely nothing can be done. Because then you are really putting your existing MPI into land value if you do a redevelopment. So that conversation has barely started and it's a multi-stakeholder kind of conversation. So I'm afraid I can't give you clarity on that at this point in time. But in any case, even without that, I think existing junction is doing very well. So we are happy to continue to earn the core income that we have based on the existing SDS yield. Was there a second question? Ion, rental reversion, I'm afraid we can't share that. So... Oh, cash occupancy. Do you have the number? Which one? You mean physical occupancy, right? Not... We don't have the number, right? Sorry. We can get back to you, but I don't have the number offhand.

So the online questions again.

One is on the capital spring acquisition. So the question from Derek is from Morgan Stanley. What is the JV loan that's costing now? Is there the delta between the current JV loan interest versus the 2.7% that was mentioned and whether this is already factored into the 1.1% accretion?

The question is okay. So I think the JV loan I think what confuses the matter is that it's kind of like a related party transaction but actually if you look at it as a third party unrelated transaction we will never assume the loan of a third party so when we buy the asset it's always up to the seller to unwind the existing loan and then we come in and take on the loan ourselves so in that sense actually to to to keep it simple actually investors and analysts should assume that whatever we buy should assume our existing cost structure and financing cost structure. So actually the outgoing financing cost is irrelevant.

And another question is about the equity. So I think the question from Gideon is that because in CRCT we have the gearing headroom and borrowing costs are trending lower, he just wanted to understand management thoughts about going through this using the equity funding to acquire the 55%.

I think if we use that, then our gearing will probably go up to just about 40%. Doable but not ideal. So I think there's always a trade-off. In fact, if you do 100% debt, your accretion will look super attractive because of the low cost of funding now. But I think we have to balance this with the long-term growth of the REIT. Because if we are at 40% in any case, it leaves us very limited room to grow from then onwards. So I think a few important considerations is that we want to position the REIT for long-term growth as well. So we want to have the financial flexibility. So by doing this transaction together with equity fundraising, we then preserve the ability to be more financially nimble. So that's one. I think secondly, it's because we can also, because there is sufficient accretion in this transaction that gives us the ability to throw in a mix of debt and equity funding. And despite the 500 million, close to 500 million of equity fundraising that we are doing, our accretion is still about 1.1%. So the accretion already took into account the equity fundraising. So that's another important consideration.

In the last question, mine is about Iron Orchard. I think this is a hypothetical question. I think it's asking whether will Iron Orchard be DPU accretive in FY 2025 if we strip out all the divestment acquisitions announced this year and the fact that we did not have the tax transparency. I think...

probably more about actually that no the simple answer to the question is yes because actually it doesn't matter whether we are doing any divestment or acquisition ion acquisition can always be analyzed on a standalone basis based on the financing structure that was done then so if it makes sense back then and we have already said that our performance in ion performance is better than underwriting based on the underwriting it was accretive then without If it's better than underwriting, then it will be even more accretive. So that's the short answer. So whether we are doing more acquisitions, this year does not detract from the performance of ION and the accretion of the ION transaction.

Okay, thanks. Last one is a very simple one. The retail occupancy cost. What is our retail? I think still close to the full year one, I think, yeah.

Oh, you mean? Yeah, retail occupancy cost. 17.6%, as in what is the year end? Oh, first half, 17.6%, yeah.

Okay, let's go to Joy.

Just one question from me. How strategic is your 2% in Germany and Australia? You spoke about green shoots. So will you exit with these green shoots or scale up?

We won't scale up.

Thank you. Do we have one last question? If not, Jun-Sang, would you like to give some closing remarks?

Thank you everyone for coming. I'm quite excited by the many questions that were asked during this briefing. I think I can tell that everyone's quite excited about the transaction, about the briefing. Thank you very much. We hope that it's a good outcome for all our unit holders. We'll probably update again this evening or tomorrow on the outcome of the equity fundraising.

Thank you, Chun Xiang.

If there are any questions, please feel free to email.

Please send them our way if you have any questions. Thank you for being with us today. If you have time, please do stay around. We have some refreshments outside for you. And to those online and everybody else, we'll see you next time. Thank you.