NOL HQ Building in the Market and 17 Units @ 8 Napier Moved

NOL selling HQ building in Alexandra	Business Times: Tue, Jul 03
NEPTUNE Orient Lines (NOL) Group has put its 26-storey freehold Singapore headquarters building at Alexandra Road on the market to "release capital for strategic investment". Although the shipping and logistics group said it has not decided on the reserve price, BT understands that the indicative pricing for the 29-year-old office block could be around $400 million. This reflects about $1,928 per square foot based on the property's existing net lettable area (NLA) of 207,505 sq ft. Jones Lang LaSalle - the exclusive marketing agent for NOL Building - will conduct an expressions of interest campaign, which is expected to close by mid-August. NOL Building stands on a 108,060 sq ft site that is zoned for commercial use under Master Plan 2008. The building's existing gross floor area (GFA) of 294,500 sq ft is just 8,068 sq ft shy of the maximum 302,568 sq ft allowed for the site, based on the site's 2.8 plot ratio under Master Plan 2008. Even so, there is potential to redevelop the building, as this could boost its NLA by about 52,700 sq ft arising from a higher efficiency ratio (or ratio of NLA to GFA) of about 86 per cent achievable on a brand-new project, compared with slightly above 70 per cent currently. Assuming NOL Building is redeveloped, the $400 million indicative pricing reflects a unit land price of about $1,337 to $1,339 per square foot per plot ratio inclusive of estimated development charges of about $4.5 million to $5 million. Whether a potential buyer is looking at simply refurbishing the existing building (through additional and alteration work) or tearing it down and redeveloping the site, an obvious angle would be to strata title the property into smaller units for sale, to ride on current strong demand for strata offices. NOL, in its statement, said about 500 people work in the building and a decision to relocate them or remain in the existing building as a tenant will have to wait until a buyer has been identified. JLL, in its release, said: "NOL Group currently occupies 90 per cent of the building and is expected to lease back the premises." Depending on the buyer's requirements, NOL is willing to lease back the property on short-term to long-term basis, said Ashish Manchharam, head of investments, SE Asia, at JLL. Market rentals for NOL Building are estimated at around $5.50-6.50 psf per month. The building has 276 car parking spaces in a separate podium. "NOL Building provides an excellent opportunity to acquire a large freehold office building, in a well established decentralised office precinct, with asset enhancement and future redevelopment potential by maximising building efficiency and plot ratio. This offering provides the ability to capture the growing demand from occupiers seeking cost-effective, decentralised office space and for developers to tap on demand in the commercial strata space," said Mr Manchharam. Source: Business Times
17 units at 8 Napier changing hands again	Business Times: Tue, Jul 03
SEVENTEEN apartments at the completed freehold project 8 Napier, opposite the US Embassy and near the Singapore Botanic Gardens, are said to be changing hands. BT understands that the units are being transacted through the sale of shares in the company which owns the apartments. Pricing details are fuzzy but the deal is thought to value the units - all three bedders of 2,013 square feet each - at around $2,800-3,000 per square foot or in the region of $100 million in all. The 17 units being sold are part of an original 19 that MGPA had bought in late 2007 (during the luxury residential property boom) at an average price of $3,550 psf. In the latest deal, a unit of Keppel Land's real estate fund management arm, Alpha Investment Partners, is believed to be buying shares in Botanic Investments - which holds the 17 units - from Hasetrale Holdings, Mark Wee and former Parkway Holdings boss Tony Tan. The trio bought their shares in Botanic Investments - which was formerly known as MGP Reflections - from MGPA in 2010; at the time, Botanic owned 19 units, of which two were subsequently sold. Through that deal, MGPA - a private equity real estate investment advisory company - effectively sold back the 19 units to 8 Napier's developers, which probably preferred this to MGPA attempting a subsale of the units below its purchase price - which would adversely affect the developers' prospects for the remaining unsold units in the project. 8 Napier was developed on the former Eng Lok Mansion site by Napier Properties, which is majority controlled by Hasetrale, whose shareholders in turn include Mr Tan, his uncle Tan Chin Nam and a string of other Malaysians. Mr Wee and Mr Tony Tan are also shareholders of Napier Properties, which sold the 19 apartments to MGP Reflections back in 2007 for $136 million. The 17 units in the latest deal are scattered from the second to eighth floors of the 10-storey project, which was completed around mid-2010. Currently, 15 of the project's 46 units have yet to be sold, including the six penthouses. Source: Business Time