Goodman Group Set To Manage JTC Reit

Source : The Business Times, January 04, 2008

JTC Corporation is set to appoint Australian-listed property and wealth manag ement company Goodman Group to manage its upcoming real estate investment trust (Reit), sources say.

The news follows last month's report in the Austral ian Financial Review that Goodman Group beat competitors - including Singapore's CapitaLand an d Mapletree Investments - to become the manager of Singapore government-owned JT C Corporation's upcoming trust.

Other names in the running included Chall enger Financial Services Group and CapitaLand subsidiary Australand, both of which are listed on the Australian stock exchange, the report said.

The report als o said that UBS, Goldman Sachs and DBS are in line to underwrite the offer.

< p> Industry players said the Reit's initial property portfolio is expected to be worth more than $1 billion.

When contacted by BT, JTC said that the selection is sti ll ongoing. JTC said in July 2007 that it would announce the winning manager and underwriter by the end of that year.

'We are in the process of selecting the Reit man ager and we will give updates at the appropriate time,' said a JTC spokeswoman.< /p>

Goodman already has substantial assets in Asia, including a 40 per cent s take in the manager of Singapore-listed Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit).

< p> Goodman is looking to expand in the region, market watchers have said. In mid -2007, Macquarie and Goodman ended a partnership that began in 2001. Macquarie p aid more than A$730 million (S$922.4 million) to divest its investment in Goodman.

JTC, Singapore's biggest industrial landlord, said last July that it will divest som e $1.4 billion-$1.6 billion worth of assets and focus its attention on strategic developments with a longer payback time.

The bulk of the assets to be sold will be pum ped into a Reit, chief executive Ow Foong Pheng told reporters at the time.

< p> JTC also said at the same time that it has short-listed seven Reit managers a nd would announce the winning manager by the end of 2007. The Reit was scheduled to be li sted on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in the second quarter of this year.

A-Reit, Singapore's second Reit, was set up by JTC unit Ascendas five years ago. The trust has since expanded by acquiring industrial buildings.