Sabana REIT sells Geo-Tele Centre to Ascendas-Singbridge for $99.6m

Ascendas-Singbridge intends to turn the building into a data centre.

Sabana REIT agreed to sell the six-storey industrial building 9 Tai Seng Drive, Geo‐Tele Centre to Ascendas-Singbridge Group for $99.6m. The consideration is $60m over the book value of the property.

According to an announcement, the property has an authorised business use as a carrier hotel/data centre and has a gross floor area (GFA) of around 218,905 sqft with a remaining land tenure of 37 years.

In a separate announcement, Ascendas-Singbridge said it intends to revamp the property into a data centre. "The property will become an attractive host location for customers seeking quality colocation services for their IT equipment and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers. The enhancement works are expected to be completed in early 2020," it added.

Sabana REIT said the sale is in line with its strategy to divest underperforming or matured assets in order to recycle capital. “The property’s current plot ratio of 2.5 has been fully utilised,” it added.

The property contributed 3.41% to Sabana REIT’s net profits. “Pending the redeployment of the proceeds for asset enhancement initiatives, acquisitions or redevelopment projects, the proceeds will be used to repay outstanding borrowings, reduce aggregate leverage ratio, and borrowing costs,” the REIT said.