AEW Sells Jurong East Office Tower to Tuan Sing for S$600M, 12% Below 2022 Price
An AEW-managed fund has agreed to sell the Westgate Tower in Jurong East to Tuan Sing for S$600 million, a 12 per cent discount on the S$680 million AEW paid in 2022. The 20-storey, 305,000 sq ft office building is 90 per cent occupied and sits on a 99-year leasehold site.
A unit of Singapore-listed developer Tuan Sing has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire Westgate Tower in Jurong East for S$600 million (US$469 million), market sources identify the seller as an entity controlled by the AEW Value Investors Asia IV fund. The deal represents a 12 per cent discount on the S$680 million AEW paid for the office tower in 2022, and comes as commercial property transaction volumes in Singapore surge.
Tuan Sing chief executive William Liem said the tower's strong occupancy, established tenant base and location in the Jurong Lake District will strengthen the group's recurring income base, while its strata-titled structure provides flexibility in managing the asset. The 20-storey building at the intersection of Gateway Drive and Boon Lay Way opened in 2014 and is certified Green Mark Platinum.
Westgate Tower is around 90 per cent committed, with tenants including Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck South East Asia and French chemicals company Arkema. At the agreed price, Tuan Sing is paying S$1,967 per square foot, compared with the S$2,230 psf AEW paid in 2022. The building stands on a 99-year leasehold site that commenced its land tenure in August 2011 and is titled as 295 strata units.
The agreed price is 6.25 per cent below a S$640 million valuation by Edmund Tie & Company as of 1 October. JLL is understood to have advised AEW on the sale, with completion expected by 1 December. The deal follows major recent Singapore commercial property sales including Wharf REIC's disposal of Wheelock Place and Scotts Square for a combined S$1.4 billion, and BlackRock and YTL Hotels' purchase of a Chinatown hotel for S$330 million.
The Jurong Lake District has been promoted by the government as Singapore's largest business district outside the city centre, though investment deals have been slow. A 2023 government tender for a 6.5 hectare mixed-use site in the district closed without an award after only a single consortium bid; a pared-down version is now being tendered with bids due 17 November. AEW's 2022 acquisition came four months after Lendlease Global Commercial REIT purchased full ownership of the adjacent Jem complex at S$2,329 psf.
First-half commercial property transaction volume in Singapore jumped 259 per cent year-on-year to US$10.3 billion, according to MSCI data, which projects 2026 could break the 2019 record. Momentum has continued into the second half with Hongkong Land agreeing to buy Wheelock Place for S$1.1 billion in July, and entities linked to local tycoon Raj Kumar signing a deal in September to buy Scotts Square mall for S$310 million. OUE REIT is also in exclusive talks to sell One Raffles Place to Malaysia's IOI Properties and CapitaLand Investment, with market sources estimating a S$2.4 billion value.
