World’s largest asset manager Blackrock Inc considering sale of second Singapore Tower

BLACKROCK Inc. has been approaching potential buyers for its Asia Square Tower 2 in Singapore, according to reports.

The company, which is the largest asset manager in the world, could fetch around SG$2 billion for the tower, reports Bloomberg, who spoke to private sources.

The tower is next to Asia Square Tower 1 in the Marina Bay area, which the asset company sold to Qatari sovereign wealth fund in June for SG$3.4 billion.

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Tower 2 encompasses 46 stories spread over 784,100 square feet, including office space and a Westin hotel. Notably, the tower was 90 percent full at the end of October, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

BlackRock were asked for comment by Bloomberg but could only say that the Asian Square Tower 2 was a “premier status asset” and that the company “will continue to focus on achieving the best outcome” for its investors.

Asia Square is owned by MGPA, which was bought by BlackRock in 2013. MGPA developed the two towers in 2007 after winning two adjacent plots at government land auctions.

This year has seen increased deal activity in Singapore for office transactions. In May, CapitaLand Commercial Trust agreed to buy 60 percent of investment company MYP Ltd. and the company also plans to offer SG$560 million for the Straits Trading Building.

Prime land in the Marina Bay financial district is also being sold off by the government, the first kind of sale in nine years.

Singapore’s office vacancies rose to its highest in four years, with rents slipping 1.1 percent in the quarter ending September 30.

As supply of Grade A properties in the central business district increases competition is expected to get tighter, according to Colliers International.

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