Fullshare Holdings has acquired recently refurbished GSH Plaza. The 28-storey GSH Plaza, which is located at the financial district of Raffles Place, has 21 strata retail shops and 259 strata office. The retail shops are on the first two floors of GSH Plaza office tower and strata office are on the third through twenty-eighth floors.
Ji Changqun, the mainland Chinese billionaire, controls Fullshare Holdings. Fullshare Holdings is an investment holding company based in a Hong Kong. The company has invested in healthcare services, commercial buildings and residential properties.
Plaza Ventures, the owner of GSH Plaza, received $750 million from Fullshare Holdings for the deal. Based on the transaction value, Fullshare Holdings paid $2,900 psf.
Plaza Ventures is a conglomerate consisting GSH Corp, Vibrant DB2 and TYJ Group. GSH Corp has 51 percent stakes in Plaza Ventures, Vibrant DB2 has 35 percent and TYJ Group has 14 percent stakes. Singapore based GSH Corp is owned by Singaporean businessman Sam Goi, who also owns TYJ Group.
GSH Plaza, which was called Equity Plaza earlier, was bought by Plaza Ventures in 2014 for the whopping price of $550 million. Plaza Ventures paid $2,181 psf to Alpha Investment Partners and Keppel Land. GSH Plaza has 252,000 sq ft area.
Apart from spending $550 million for acquiring GSH Plaza, Plaza Ventures also spent $100 million to refurbish the commercial building. Plaza Ventures turned Equity Plaza into a strata-titled GSH Plaza with strata retail shops and strata office units. Currently, GSH Plaza is hoping to receive Temporary Occupation Permit, which could be available in two months. GSH Plaza, which is 99-year lease project, has 73 more years to go.
Even though Plaza Ventures acquired GSH Plaza, GSH Corp that had 51 percent stakes originally has acquired the rights to the 9 strata units on the 28th floor. GSH Corp acquired the strata units at the penthouse level for $31 million, which can be translated to $3,192 psf. Currently, GSH Corp has floor area of 9,710 sq ft on the 28th floor, which the company will be using as the headquarter after second quarter in 2017.
Interestingly, Fullshare Holdings is also thinking to use GSH Plaza as the company’s office after the purchase deal is finalized.
DB2, which had 35 percent stakes on GSH Plaza previously, has expressed that the company will be buying 21 strata retail units. The company expects to spend $75.6 million for the deal. The total floor area of GSH Plaza that DB2 will be buying will be 12,260 sq ft and the company will be paying $6,166 psf to acquire 21 strata units.
GSH Plaza was made available for purchase in April 2015. Based on the caveats filed with URA Realis, 50 strata office units at GSH Plaza have been already sold. In 2016, the average unit price for GSH Plaza units was $3,204 psf. This is according to Cushman & Wakefield research director Christine Li. “Fullshare gets 9.5 percent discounts by paying $2,900 psf,” says Li.
Li also adds, “The bulk purchase price for GSH Plaza is 11.5 percent more compared to the price paid by One Tree Partners to purchase Prudential Tower units in bulk.”
One Tree Partners paid $2,600 psf for Prudential Tower units. The company, which was established by Roy Tan and Tan Shern Liang, is a private investment management company. Last month, One Tree Partners paid $206.2 million to Epic Land to acquire 17 strata office units. The total area of these 17 strata office units equals to 79,000 sq ft. Epic Land, which is a conglomerate, consisting Centurion Global, Lian Beng Group, KOP Group and KSH Holdings. Lian Beng Group has 32 percent share on Epic Land. Likewise, KSH Holdings has 28 percent stakes, KOP Group has 25 percent stakes and Centurion Global has 15 percent share.
Even though One Tree Partners has acquired 17 strata office units, Epic Land still owns 60,000 sq ft area in the Prudential Tower. In 2014, the conglomerate Epic Land bought strata office space in first floor and tenth through twenty-ninth floor (except sixteenth floor), with the total area of 230,700 sq ft. Epic Land paid $512 million to Keppel REIT for this deal. Keppel REIT received $2,316 psf from Epic Land. The 30-storey Prudential Tower is a 99-year lease hold project. It still has 78 years to go.
