CENTURION CLUB: REITs

Sasseur REIT owns a portfolio of four outlet malls in China. The REIT was listed in March 2018 and its four outlets are Sasseur (Chongqing Liangjiang); Sasseur (Chongqing Bishan); Sasseur (Chongqing Bishan) and Sasseur (Kunming).

Its sponsor is the Sasseur Group, a leading premium outlet operator in China with 16 outlets under management — including the four outlets in Sasseur REIT’s portfolio. As at Dec 31, 2022, the REIT’s portfolio has a total net lettable area of 310,241 sqm with a valuation of RMB8.5 billion ($1.6 billion), with an occupancy of 97.2% with 9.6 million in annual shopper traffic.

In its FY2022 ended December 2022 annual report, Vito Xu Rongcan, founder of Sasseur Group and chairman of the REIT’s manager, says 2022 was still a turbulent year for China’s economy as it endured a third year of strict pandemic-related controls. “The rising pandemic-related disruptions across many Chinese cities during the year led to uncertainties over the economy, weighing heavily on consumption and investment,” says Xu.

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Xu notes that unitholders who invested in Sasseur REIT since its IPO have enjoyed a total return of around 37.7% as at end December 2022, outperforming that of the FTSE ST REIT Index (13.3%) and FTSE Straits Times Index (14.1%) for the same period. “We will strive to sustain our record of value creation for the long term for our unitholders,” adds Xu.

He is confident that with the outlet sector’s attractive value propositions as well as China’s growing middle-class population segment, Sasseur REIT’s outlets are well positioned to benefit from the government’s focus to promote a consumption recovery as a major driver of China’s economic growth this year.

IREIT Global was listed nearly a decade ago back in August 2014. It is the first Singapore-listed REIT with the investment strategy of principally investing, directly or indirectly, in a portfolio of income-producing real estate in Europe which is used primarily for office, retail and industrial (including logistics) purposes as well as real estate-related assets.

Its portfolio now comprises five freehold office properties in Germany, five freehold office properties in Spain and 27 freehold retail properties in France. They have a total lettable area of about 384,000 sqm and the portfolio has an occupancy rate of approximately 88.3% and a valuation of about EUR950.5 million ($1.38 billion). The manager, IREIT Global Ud1u Group, is jointly owned by Tikehau Capital and City Developments.

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Formerly known as Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial REIT, it was listed on the Singapore Exchange S68 in November 2010 before the Shari’ah compliance was dropped in October 2021 and renamed as Sabana Industrial REIT. Its investment mandate is to principally invest in income-producing real estate used for industrial purposes in Asia as well as real estate-related assets.

Sabana Industrial REIT owns a portfolio of 18 properties in Singapore worth more than $0.9 billion. The properties are in the high-tech industrial, warehouse and logistics, chemical warehouse and logistics, as well as general industrial sectors.