Singapore – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree” or “the Group”), a leading Asia-focused real estate development, investment and capital management company, delivered a strong set of results for the financial year ended 31 March 2012 (“FY11/12”). Mapletree’s profit after tax and minority interests (“PATMI”) increased 6.2% from S$746.7 million to S$793.0 million and the Group’s shareholder’s funds grew 12% to S$6.5 billion. 

Group Chief Executive Officer Mr Hiew Yoon Khong said, “At Mapletree, we strive to deliver high and sustained returns to our investors as we scale our business. We do so by combining our real estate development expertise with investment and capital management capabilities. This approach has continued to yield positive results for the Group in FY11/12. We continued to grow regionally and raised our total real estate assets owned and managed, or assets under management (“AUM”), to S$19.9 billion. We also strengthened our capital management arm and increased our funds under management by 36% to S$7.5 billion.”

FY11/12 saw the Group enhance its capital management business with an increase in third party AUM from S$7.9 billion to S$11.4 billion. In particular, the listing of Mapletree Commercial Trust (“MCT”) – Singapore’s largest real estate investment trust (“REIT”) initial public offering (“IPO”) to-date – was a significant milestone. MCT’s IPO resulted in a corporate restructuring surplus of S$905 million, measured based on the original invested costs of the IPO portfolio, and contributed to the Group’s high operational PATMI of S$1.2 billion. Mapletree Industrial Trust’s acquisition of an additional Singapore portfolio for S$400.3 million, and Mapletree Logistics Trust’s acquisition of new assets in Japan and South Korea, also grew the Group’s capital management business.

ARC – Alexandra Retail Centre (ARC) is part of the Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) portfolio that was listed in April 2011. The listing of MCT contributed to Mapletree Group’s exceptional Operational PATMI of S$1.2 billion.

Despite divesting three of its assets as part of the MCT IPO portfolio in FY11/12, rental income for the Group decreased by only a marginal 2.3%. The Group’s commercial properties in Singapore reported overall improvement in operating performance, especially Mapletree Business City (“MBC”), which continued to draw tenants with its Grade-A specifications and recreational amenities. Committed occupancy at MBC as of 31 March 2012 was 91%. Mapletree Anson also managed to secure new tenants, with committed occupancy going up to about 96% from 89% a year ago. In October 2011, the first VivoCity mall in China celebrated its grand opening with committed occupancy of more than 80%, creating interest and bringing both international and local brand names to the retail scene in Xi’an.

The Group’s strong operating performance enabled it to deliver consistent returns to investors and its shareholder. For FY11/12, the Group recorded a strong Return on Equity (“ROE”) of 12.8%, with the average annual ROE for the last five years at a high 13.1%. Mr Hiew added, “The key focus for the Group has to-date been to scale our business while maintaining a high and consistent return on our capital. This will continue to be the focus going forward and the Group will strive to avoid the pitfall of scaling at the expense of declining returns.”

Mapletree also saw continued regional expansion during FY11/12. The Group acquired Festival Walk, a Hong Kong retail mall with an office component, for a total outlay of about HK$19.3 billion. Besides enabling Mapletree to make an impactful entry into the retail real estate sector of Hong Kong, Festival Walk will serve as a seed asset for a planned Mapletree Hong Kong Fund. The operating performance of Festival Walk since acquisition has surpassed expectations, with continued strong performance expected going forward. Meanwhile, the Group’s flagship Mapletree India China Fund (“MIC Fund”) was fully invested in FY11/12. Mapletree expects to gradually monetise the MIC Fund’s underlying portfolio of assets over the next few years. The MIC Fund is expected to deliver to investors an Internal Rate of Return in excess of 20%. Leveraging on the MIC Fund’s success, the Group plans to launch a follow-on China fund in FY12/13 and is currently evaluating a number of pipeline acquisitions for the new fund.

Festival Walk – The acquisition of Festival Walk in 2011, the largest real estate transaction in Hong Kong to-date helped to underpin the strong performance of the Mapletree Group.

The Group also reinforced its real estate development expertise with the development of a mixed-use commercial project in the Minhang district of Shanghai, China, an integrated office and business park project, Mapletree Innovation City in Foshan, China, and SC VivoCity, a family-lifestyle destination mall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Like its completed projects, these new projects will showcase Mapletree as a real estate company that combines capital management capabilities with strong development skills.

For FY12/13, the investment environment in key markets remains challenging. However, with a disciplined approach to investment evaluation, emphasising on less competed opportunities, together with a constantly improving operating performance, the Group is confident that the outlook for the year is a positive one.

- END -