Indonesia Abroad: Sinarmas Land Expanding its Property in London
Real estate development company Sinarmas Land Ltd, a unit within the Sinar Mas Group, purchased a big office building in Central London for the price of nearly USD $269 million. Sinar Mas Land Ltd, headquartered and listed in Singapore, is engaged in the property business through its operations in primarily Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Singapore.
The office building that was purchased by Sinarmas Land Ltd is located at 33 Horseferry Road in a commercial and residential area within Central London. Sinarmas bought the property from Horseferry Property Ltd a UK-based property company that previously owned the commercial complex. Considering several offices within the building are leased to high-profile tenants, the acquisition should boost Sinarmas Land Ltd's recurring income.
The office building at 33 Horseferry Road is a five-story building covering 15,213 square meters of office space and 1,564 square meters of retail space. The area also includes several parking spaces and storage facilities. The complex currently houses premium tenants including the National Westminster Bank, UK's Secretary of State for Transport, sandwich shop chain Pret A Manger, bookmaker William Hills and coffee chain Starbucks. Through the signing of full repairing and insuring lease (FRI) agreements the tenants are responsible for financing the necessary repair works and insurance.
Sinarmas is enthusiastic about London's property market and does not seem to see any danger in Brexit turmoil (the United Kingdom exiting the European Union has led to companies threatening to pull investment from the UK). In 2015 the company had already acquired the Alphabeta building at Finsbury Square, London, for USD $558.5 million, a move that marked the company's desire to diversify its investment portfolio from the Indonesian-based group. Later it purchased the New Brook buildings and Warwick House in May 2013 and September 2014, respectively. Hence, London has become a key location for the company.
Ferdinand Sadeli, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director at Sinarmas Land Ltd, said the purchase of the Horseferry Road office building is for 30 percent financed through internal cash reserves, while the remainder of the funds originate from loans from UK banks.
Based on data from Bloomberg, Sinarmas Land Ltd's revenue rose 9.9 percent (y/y) to S$935.9 million in the first quarter of 2017. Meanwhile, its net profit grew 14.5 percent (y/y) to S$135.8 million over the same period.
The Salim Group is one of Indonesia's biggest conglomerates, founded by Sudono Salim in 1972. It owns big palm oil estates and plays a big role in the consumer products sector by owning the Indofood Group.