Australian property group Lend Lease has divested its 25 per cent stake in Singapore mixed-use development Jem.
The stake has been sold to a newly created fund called Lend Lease Jem Partners Fund (LLJP) for S$227 million (approximately AU$189 million).
LLJP is a new wholesale investment vehicle with equity commitments from a small group of global institutional investors, including a number of new institutional investors to the group’s investment management platform.
Lend Lease is the investment manager of the new fund and will remain as the property manager of Jem. The group will not be a co-investor in the new fund, however, it will continue to hold an interest in Jem via its co-investment in the Lend Lease Asia Retail Investment Fund (ARIF) which owns the remaining 75 per cent of Jem.
The development site on which Jem is located was acquired in June 2010 via a joint venture between Lend Lease (25 per cent ownership) and ARIF (75 per cent ownership).
Over the last three years, Lend Lease has developed Jem in Jurong East and achieved 100 per cent leased status for its 241 shops 10 weeks ahead of its opening on June 15, 2013.
The 76,000 sqm mall boasts a line-up of fashion, beauty, food and beverage and lifestyle tenants which have chosen to locate their outlet in Jem. These include international and homegrown brands such as Robinsons, H&M, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Shu Uemura, Paris Baguette, Marché Bar & Bistro, Spageddies, Shin Kushiya and Books Kinokuniya.
The office component is 100 per cent leased on a long-term lease to the Ministry of National Development, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore and is scheduled for completion later this year.
Jem is the first mixed-use development in Singapore to be recognised for its innovative green design features and sustainability standards, having won the Best Innovative Green Building Gold award at MIPIM Asia Awards 2012 and the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Version 4 award, the highest standard for sustainability in Singapore.
Jem also won the BCA’s Universal Design Mark GoldPlus (design) award for its inclusive design philosophy.
