“If we can identify the drivers that support the economy, we can invest in the assets that support the drivers of that country’s economy. Within mature economies, we have focused on tech and logistics. We were in the New Economy from day one of the IPO. We want to be adaptable to the changing environment, which is now digitalisation, e-commerce, supply chain disruption,” says Tay. “When we go overseas, we’ve got to build a team on the ground.” CLAR’s sponsor and largest unitholder is CapitaLand Investment.
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR) is one of the 10 REITs trading above net asset value and has outperformed industrial REITs over the past five years (see chart). As of Sept 30, it owns 231 properties across business space, life sciences, logistics and industrial, and data centres, valued at $17.7 billion. CLAR’s portfolio comprises 98 properties in Singapore, 34 in Australia, 49 in the US, and 50 in the UK and Europe.
William Tay, CEO of CLAR’s manager, says: “We have always focused on creating a REIT that is resilient and diversified across mature economies. We’re in Australia, the UK and the US. We were in China once, and we exited.” The construct is to focus on developed economies, with similar risk profiles and clarity of their capital markets and economic drivers, he adds.
