Cuscaden Peak is seeking S$750 million ($577 million) for The Clementi Mall (Image: Google)
An entity tied to mysterious mainland Chinese investors has emerged as the front-runner to acquire The Clementi Mall in western Singapore, market sources confirmed Thursday.
The suburban mall was put on the market at a guide price of S$750 million ($577 million) two months ago by Temasek-owned Cuscaden Peak, in a sales exercise that saw 12 bids whittled down to a shortlist of eight potential buyers. Sources told Mingtiandi that Cuscaden granted exclusive due diligence to a shortlisted party connected to Elegant Group, a property firm controlled by a family surnamed Zhao from China’s Guangdong province.
The Zhao clan’s source of wealth has never been publicly reported, but Elegant has built up a portfolio of three Singapore malls and six commercial properties in Australia since the group’s founding in 2015. A fourth Singapore investment, the S$375 million purchase of UOL Group’s Kinex mall in the Geylang area, is scheduled to close on Friday of this week.
Should the Zhao family and Elegant close on the Kinex mall and acquire the Clementi Mall at or above the tender guide price, it would bring the group’s Singapore acquisitions to five properties at more than $1.5 billion. The deals would put the group’s purchases across Australia and Singapore to more than $1.8 billion, according to Mingtiandi research.
The Zhao-linked entity’s shortlisting and due diligence for The Clementi Mall were first reported Wednesday by the Business Times. Elegant Group is expected to close on its purchase of the 195,772 square foot (18,188 square metre) mall within the next three weeks, market sources indicated to Mingtiandi.
