One of the most interesting announcements has been the redevelopment of Marina Square. At present, details are scarce. According to DBS Group Research, Marina Square is valued on the books at “just” $1,050 million, or $490 psf, on a gross floor area (GFA) basis. DBS believes the potential value uplift for a redevelopment could be as high as 4.8 times, translating to $5.08 billion.
Property groups UOL Group and Singapore Land Group (SingLand) come as a pair. However, UOL has narrowed its trading price discount to its net asset value more than SingLand has. Since the start of the year, UOL is up 28%, while SingLand, UOL’s 50.37%-owned subsidiary, is up more than 23%.
SingLand could turn out to be more interesting than UOL, and the reason is not just the higher discount to NAV. Over the past 15 months, the Singapore market has come to life in response to the value unlock programme. UOL has been part of that as its stated strategy is to divest assets at more than full market value and recycle its capital. As UBS has pointed out in a report dated Jan 23, “In recent years, the group has divested homes, hotels and malls above book values.”
