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CapitaLand has committed rental relief and $10 million in marketing assistance in aid of its mall tenants in Singapore.
CapitaLand met with representatives from the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) and Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) in order to reiterate its commitment to support food services and retail companies in overcoming the challenges brought on by the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
In the dialogue facilitated by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on 21 February 2020, RAS Vice President Andrew Kwan said the association “appreciates the leadership demonstrated by CapitaLand where the social compact, between landlords and tenants, is characterised by practical support and sacrifice” and urged landlords to “take the cue from CapitaLand and offer urgent and immediate cost relief measures for their tenants”.
Considering that COVID-19 has impacted malls and trade categories by varying degrees, CapitaLand has committed rental relief and $10 million in marketing assistance in aid of its mall tenants in Singapore.
The rental relief will be given out in a targeted manner. The various forms of support to be offered may include flexible rental payments, as well as a one-time rental rebate of up to half-a-month for eligible tenants, among others.
Aside from these, CapitaLand will also release a one-month security deposit to offset the rental payments for March 2020 in order to ease cashflows for all its mall tenants.
“The release of security deposit coupled with the stated rental rebate for F&B operators, is tangible relief at a time of great need,” said Kwan.
CapitaLand’s initiatives are on top of the 15% property tax rebate under the 2020 Budget granted by the government, which the group will pass on to its tenants in full.
The group also eyes to offer relevant training programs for tenants who follow the government’s call to upskill their employees during this period under its signature Biz+ Series of tenant engagement events.
SRA president R Dhinakaran appreciates CapitaLand’s “willingness to understand the difficulties on the ground and take immediate actions”.
“We hope other landlords will follow suit and do their part to keep Singapore’s retail ecosystem going,” he said.
Meanwhile, CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) has also expressed its support for CapitaLand’s relief package.
“CMT cannot achieve sustainable distributions without embracing and considering the needs of our retailers. We want our tenants and shoppers to know we are in this for the long haul and that we will journey with them during this difficult period”, said Tony Tan, CEO of the trust’s manager.
Further, Tan opined that as Singapore’s largest retail real estate investment trust (REIT), it is incumbent on CMT to lead and proactively work alongside its tenants, who stand as its closest business partners in an increasingly collaborative retail environment.
The comprehensive relief package will assist tenants operating more than 3,500 stores in CapitaLand’s retail network, including over 3,000 stores in the 15 malls owned by CMT.
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