3 developers to benefit sooner from Singapore's new property initiatives

Immediate gains for KepLand, CMA and OUE.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, these three listed developers will "benefit sooner than others," with short-term initiatives boosting such as the Tanjong Pagar makeover and increased Changi Airport capacity propelling their growth.

Here's more from Maybank:

More landscape changes to come. The Singapore property market is in a state of flux now, but plans are in the pipeline to ensure that land resources remain sufficient to meet growth needs going into the next 20 years and beyond. The government has announced various land-related initiatives and most listed developers should benefit, but to varying degrees and some, such as Keppel Land, CMA and OUE, will benefit sooner than others.

Exciting plans afoot. The most significant three urban planning initiatives that have been announced thus far are (1) the land-swap arrangement involving the return of Malaysia’s railway land; (2) the lease of the Population White Paper and Land Use Plan in January which will lead to the Master Plan 2013 to be unveiled later this year and (3) the eventual relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base and the city container ports.

Short-term, medium-term or long-term, they are all winners! For the short-term initiatives, Keppel Land should benefit from the Tanjong Pagar makeover, CMA from Project Jewel at Changi and OUE from the increased capacity at Changi Airport. Beneficiaries of the medium-term
plans include CMA, SPH and CMT due to more retail mall development opportunities and bigger population catchments. In the long-term, Mapletree Commercial Trust could be a beneficiary of the plan to develop the Southern Waterfront City.

Reiterating CMA as our top pick. CapitaMalls Asia's (CMA SP) lilely participation in the iconic Project Jewel at Changi Airport will increase its Singapore portfolio to 20 malls. We believe the continued push towards decentralized commercial regions will further provide ample opportunities for CMA to extend its leadership position in Singapore. We remain sanguine on the suburban retail segment in Singapore, and we have a TP of SGD2.51 for CMA for an upside of nearly 40%.

Remain positive on diversified players. We also maintain our BUY recommendations on CapitaLand (CAPL SP; TP SGD4.10), Keppel Land (KPLD SP; TP SGD4.80) and OUE (OUE SP; TP SGD3.40), mainly as their businesses remain diversified across asset classes and geographies, and are slated to participate in Singapore’s long-term urban landscape transformation.