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Blackstone Group acquired the eight-storey Sandcrawler located a 1 Fusionpolis View for S$176million. Source: Google Maps
Blackstone Group plans to invest in more properties in Singapore, following its acquisition of Sandcrawler, an eight-storey building from Lucas Real Estate, for S$176 million, reported Bloomberg.
This comes as the U.S. private equity firm intends to capitalise on the growing demand for office space among technology companies expanding within the city-state.
Alan Miyasaki, Blackstone’s Head of Asia Real Estate Acquisitions, said Blackstone seeks to make long-term investments in high-quality assets providing strong returns. This means having a strong roster of tenants, like those in the Sandcrawler, which accommodates Walt Disney Co as well as the Government Technology Agency.
The move highlights the attraction of Singapore properties to foreign investors as the financial hub widens its appeal for technology companies.
Among the companies that have made Singapore their beachhead for Southeast Asia include US giants Facebook and Amazon as well as their Chinese counterparts ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding.
The Sandcrawler deal marks the first property acquisition of Blackstone in Singapore under its “core plus” strategy, where it presently has US$3.6 billion (S$4.8 billion) in assets under management within Asia.
The building, located in the city’s biggest business park, was inspired by the Sandcrawler fortresses featured in Star Wars movies and used by Lucasfilm.
Miyasaki said technology firms are keen on taking up space at low-rise buildings within business parks and not necessarily skyscrapers within the financial district.
Grab Holdings and Sea Ltd.’s e-commerce business Shopee, for instance, have offices within the area where Sandcrawler is situated.
“It used to be that the tall skyscrapers were really cool,” said Miyasaki as quoted by Bloomberg. “If we can buy five more Sandcrawlers, we’d do that.”
He expects more tech and content companies to expand their presence in the city-state over time, citing Singapore’s ability to protect intellectual property as one reason.
Geopolitical tensions elsewhere also make the city-state a relatively attractive option.
Miyasaki said Singapore is the “one place everybody agrees on”.
“This is like the Switzerland of Asia,” he added.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg