Following CLI’s investor day, Aussie press carries story on CLI acquiring Wingate
CapitaLand offered its remaining 39.1% stake in Australand in March 2014 after partly divesting its share in November 2013 to boost trading liquidity.
Throughout the course of Nov 22, Lee Chee Koon, group chief executive officer of CLI, said: “For nonpublic credit we have actually constructed our very own group and developed a collaboration with teams from Wingate in Australia, originating and supporting offers and there’s a whole lot of more pipeline we can build in Australia and Asia-Pacific.”
During the course of its investor day on Nov 22, CapitaLand Investment’s (CLI) management stated it is seeking to expand its business in Australia.
Lakegarden Residences floor plan
CLI additionally claimed it is going to invest up to A$ 1 billion ($ 876.7 million) to increase funds under management (FUM) in Australia. In September, CLI closed its Australian Credit Programme (ACP). ACP is CLI’s initial credit fund at A$ 265 million, supported by Asian clients.
The business recently announced that it had appointed 2 senior hires to newly established duties to strengthen its talent bench and spearhead growth in its focus market. Angelo Scasserra will be the CEO of CLI Australia, and Rahul Bharara is going to be its chief investment official. They are projected to sign up with the firm in 1H2025.
He added that the firm “did not have a crystal ball, certainly, about China’s circumstance these days” and did not want to talk about his predecessors’ choices. During the time, China was thriving and CapitaLand had a massive competitive advantage. “That could have been a major win or an incorrect action. This is not a talk no matter if my predecessors made a best or bad judgment.”
It is interesting that on Nov 25, the Australian Financial Review ran a story mentioning that CLI intended to obtain Wingate.
In 2014, CapitaLand unloaded Australand Property Group, that was then snapped up by Frasers Property and has since been relabelled Frasers Property Australia. During the question-and-answer program, Miguel Ko, chairman of CLI, said that the decision to offer Australand and invest a bit more in China was made before his time.
At the time, Lim Ming Yan, CapitaLand’s then-president and team CEO, claimed that the divestment came amid “favourable” industry conditions. Australand’s share rate likewise performed highly in the past couple of months prior to the divestment. “This divestment would certainly permit us to reallocate capital to our core businesses in Singapore and China.”
