KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 22): Boustead Holdings Bhd has plans to divest more than RM1 billion worth of properties, reported The Edge Malaysia this week.

The “debt-laden” conglomerate has sold or put up for sale assets and land worth a total of RM770 million over the past 18 months “is said to be seeking buyers for other assets that it owns”.

“There is more to come [assets to be sold],” a source told the publication.

The same report revealed that Menara Boustead in Penang and a property in Kenny Hills “may be up for sale while”.

And “the latest assets” Boustead has put up for sale are the Menara Affin building along Jalan Raja Chulan and two parcels of freehold commercial land (2.96 acres) in Mutiara Damansara.

Menara Affin is currently the home for the HQ of Affin Bank Bhd, an associate company of Boustead. The 20-storey building has a net lettable area (NLA) of 200,756 sq ft.

“It is unclear whether the sale of the office building has been on the cards since the bank [Affin Bank] purchased land in Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) in 2015 to house its new headquarters, or whether this is part of Boustead’s ongoing debt restructuring exercise,” wrote The Edge.

“With the current economic downturn and the Covid-19 pandemic, looking for a buyer for Menara Affin may not be easy.

“However, time is on their side and they can slowly look for the right buyer until the bank moves to its new headquarters in TRX next year,” James Wong, managing director of real estate valuer VPC Alliance (M) Sdn Bhd told the weekly.

Wong explained that “there have not been many transactions of office buildings in the vicinity recently”.

“A notable sale is that of Menara AIMS located in Changkat Raja Chulan, which was sold for RM92 million or RM763 psf on July 8 last year,” he said.

“Generally, the book value of Menara Affin at RM147.5 million reflects the current market value of this office building,” Wong added.

Boustead has appointed CBRE | WTW as the exclusive marketing agent for Menara Affin.

The real estate agent placed an advertisement last weekend to invite expressions of interest (EOI) for an office building in Kuala Lumpur’s central business district.

The asset has a net initial yield of about 6% and the stage 1 closing date for the EOI is Sept 11.

As for the Mutiara Damansara land, the closing date for stage 1 of the EOI is Sept 18.

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Read the full report in this week’s The Edge Malaysia

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