Mapletree Investments' profits up 10.3% to $2.16b in 2018

Its acquisitions in Australia, the US and Europe bolstered earnings.

Mapletree Investments popped the champagne after its FY 2018/2019 net profit jumped 10.3% YoY to hit a record $2.16b, an announcement revealed. Its return on equity (ROE) also stood at 15.3% for the year.

FY 2018/2019 also capped the end of the firm’s second Five-Year Plan that it set in FY 2013/2014 with revenue and recurring profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) for the group rising 23.6% and 11.5% YoY to $3.95b and $770.8m respectively.

Underpinned by the group’s deeper penetration into markets such as Australia, the US and Europe, assets under management (AUM) increased 20.3% to $55.7b in FY 2018/2019 from $46.3b in FY 2017/2018. The financial year also marked the group’s maiden foray into the logistics market in Europe and the US with the acquisition of an income-producing portfolio of logistics assets from three separate vendors, the firm highlighted.

Also read: Mapletree buys logistics portfolio for $1.54b

Meanwhile, Mapletree also made further inroads into the student accommodation sector with the acquisition of 224-bed property in Norwich, UK in November 2018. With this latest acquisition, as well as other projects under development, the group’s total student housing portfolio consists of 48 assets with nearly 21,000 beds located across 33 cities in the UK, the US and Canada.

Other key acquisitions included a Grade A office property, 67 Albert Avenue located in Chatswood, Sydney, Australia, as well as an operational IT office park, Global Infocity Park Chennai in India with a net leasable area totalling 252,403 sqm.

Also read: Mapletree Investments reveals design for Grade A office twin towers V Plaza in Vietnam

“After assembling the high quality logistics portfolio during the financial year, in March 2019, Mapletree syndicated a private fund, the MUSEL Private Trust, with $5.6b of assets,” the firm added. “This is the Group’s first fund in the US and Europe focusing on the logistics sector.”

The group’s managed private fund MJOF, which invests in a diverse portfolio of income-producing office spaces in Japan, also fully exited its investment and generated for its investors a net internal rate of return (IRR) of 27% and an equity multiple of more than 1.8 times, significantly above its targeted IRR of 11% per annum, during the year. Six of the office assets were acquired by Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) in May 2018.

In addition, Mapletree India China Fund and Mapletree China Opportunity Fund II completed the divestment of Mapletree Business City Shanghai and VivoCity Shanghai in November 2018, which it said contributed positively to the returns of both funds, which are in their divestment phase.

In May 2019, Mapletree also completed the divestment of Mapletree Bay Point, a Grade A office development in Kowloon East, Hong Kong, for approximately $1.6b. “Given the buoyant office capital value in Hong Kong, it was opportune to realise the attractive value the building can fetch and recycle the proceeds for other growth opportunities,” they explained.

Separately, the Group’s four managed REITs raised a total of approximately $3b in equity proceeds since FY 2014/2015.

“Moving forward, the Group will continue to focus on the disciplined execution of its business model as a real estate developer, investor, capital and property manager to achieve high sustainable returns in the third FiveYear Plan”, Hiew Yoon Khong, Mapletree Group’s CEO, said in a statement.