Global asset manager Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has acquired a row of adjoining shophouses in Singapore, for S$54 million (US$38.9 million) or S$2,700 per square foot. 

The acquisition marks the company’s first Singapore investment for its global real estate portfolio.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to further diversify our global fund’s Asia Pacific investment footprint,” says Ted Roy, deputy fund manager of ASI’s 500 million pound sterling Global Real Estate Fund. “We particular like the finite supply of shophouses and the potential for the asset to benefit from Singapore’s 2019 Master Plan designed to rejuvenate the immediate vicinity.

“For global investors seeking diversification, we believe that cities in the Asia-Pacific region are set to experience robust growth over the next decade, fuelled by both domestic and foreign immigration to major metropolises, along with continued infrastructure spend across the region.”

Aberdeen Standard Investments has been investing in Asia-Pacific direct real estate since 2006.

The firm expanded its direct real estate capability with the acquisition of Orion Partners in February 2019, which brought in market expertise covering Singapore, Korea, Japan and China. 

The six Peck Seah Street shophouses, located in Singapore’s prime central business district near the Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, span two storeys and an attic level, with an excellent street frontage of 33 meters.

The property has a total existing gross floor area of 19,938 square feet and is fully-leased to institutional tenants.