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Year in Review 2019: Top M&A deals in Singapore
SINGAPORE — 2019 has been filled with superlatives for Singapore’s merger and acquisition scene, with deals driven by heavyweight firms creating some of the largest entities in the region. The property sector dominated the action as Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (Reits) spent a collective US$16.9 billion to purchase assets. We look at some of 2019’s most significant deals.
S$11 billion Ascendas-Singbridge deal: Property behemoth CapitaLand became the largest property company in Asia this year through its S$11 billion acquisition of Temasek subsidiary Ascendas-Singbridge (ASB). As part of the deal, Temasek received S$6 billion, half in cash and half in new CapitaLand shares, which raised its stake in the property firm from 40.8 per cent to about 51 per cent. Post-transaction, the property giant’s total assets under management stand at more than S$123 billion across some 30 countries.
S$1.49 billion OUE Commercial Reit - OUE Hospitality Trust merger: The bid for scale and asset diversity continued in real estate, with OUE Commercial Reit (OUE C-Reit) and OUE Hospitality Trust (OUE H-Trust) merging in a deal valued at S$1.49 billion. This produced one of the largest real estate investment trusts in Singapore, with total assets of about S$6.9 billion and a market capitalisation of almost S$3 billion. The merged portfolio now spans seven properties in the office, retail and hospitality sectors.
S$1.6 billion DUO Tower and DUO Galleria deal: Gaw Capital and Allianz Real Estate teamed up in a joint venture to buy DUO Tower and DUO Galleria in the Ophir-Rochor district for about S$1.6 billion from property developer M+S. Duo Tower has 568,000 square feet of Grade-A office space, while the adjoining Duo Galleria is a boutique retail plaza with 56,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. Post-acquisition, Allianz Real Estate and Gaw Capital have a 60-40 stake in the asset respectively, and jointly manage it.
S$1.15 billion (US$850 million) Carousell deal: Online marketplace startup Carousell merged with Norwegian Telenor Group’s classifieds business 701Search, in a deal which valued the Singapore startup at more than US$850 million. Telenor Group is now Carousell’s largest minority shareholder, with a 32 per cent stake in the merged entity. 701Search’s general classifieds sites – Mudah in Malaysia, Chotot in Vietnam and OneKyat in Myanmar – continue to retain their respective brands and platforms, while reporting to Carousell’s chief executive Quek Siu Rui.
S$1.45 billion Bigo deal: Enlarging its global footprint, Chinese social network giant YY Inc cemented its ownership of Singapore-based Bigo Technology through a S$1.45 billion buyout. Before the acquisition, YY Inc already held a 31.7 per cent stake in Bigo, which stands for “before I get old”. YY Inc’s purchase of the remaining 68.3 per cent of Bigo this year values the local startup at about US$2.13 billion. Bigo’s products include Bigo Live, a live-streaming platform, and imo, a video communications service.
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