(Bloomberg) -- Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd. shares surged after the biggest landlord in the city’s financial district unveiled a new strategy that it expects will spur profit and shareholder payouts.
The Singapore-listed company will focus on commercial property management and forgo residential development in a move that will eventually see it set up real estate investment trusts. It aims to expand its assets under management from $40 billion to $100 billion by 2035, much of which will be owned by third-party capital. It estimates that the new model will double profits and dividends, a statement showed late Tuesday.
Shares of Hongkong Land jumped as much as 17% in Singapore on Wednesday morning, the biggest intraday gain in 16 years.
Chief Executive Michael Smith said the company will concentrate on premium mixed-use projects including luxury shopping malls, offices and hotels across key cities in the Asia-Pacific region. It will also work with third-party capital by creating REITs or private investment vehicles with limited partners where it will be the developer and manager, earning fees.
“We are building that capability, that infrastructure to enable us to be able to really do a deep dive into the opportunities around REITs and private third-party vehicles,” Smith said in an interview.
The 135-year-old developer’s biggest pivot in years comes at a time when the property market downturn in mainland China and Hong Kong is hurting the industry. Hongkong Land’s net loss widened 150% in the first half of the year on lower sales of projects in mainland China, while a slump in Hong Kong’s office and retail sectors has pressured rental income.
“Hongkong Land could achieve a more sustainable earnings growth over the next decade with its new strategy,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Patrick Wong wrote in a note.
The company aims to raise $10 billion in the next 10 years by disposing of some assets and moving others into vehicles, said Chief Financial Officer Craig Beattie. An estimated $4 billion will come from potential REIT listings or private vehicles with its premium commercial properties. The remaining $6 billion will be generated by selling 50 existing projects — mostly residential — along with some mass-market shopping malls in mainland China.
“We don’t need to do an equity raising,” said Smith. “This is not out of financial necessity. We are doing it purely because we believe this is what we’re best at.”
The stock is now up about 29% this year, after declining 24% in 2023.
Smith, who joined Hongkong Land in April, was the regional CEO at Mapletree Investments Pte, which manages REITs listed in Singapore as well as private equity real estate funds. Prior to his stint at Mapletree, Smith was involved in multiple REIT listings as an investment banker.
Hongkong Land has about $32 billion of prime property assets located in Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore. The firm isn’t “specific about any one market” for the REIT listings at the moment, according to Beattie.
Established in 19th-century colonial Hong Kong, the company grew to become Central’s biggest landlord with multiple walkway-connected buildings housing the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the heart of the financial district.
It announced earlier this year that it would invest $400 million to upgrade a high-end mall in Central.
Hongkong Land has more than 165,000 square meters (1.8 million square feet) of office space in Singapore, mainly held through joint ventures. It also holds a 43% interest in an ambitious mixed-use project in Shanghai’s West Bund comprising offices, luxury retail space and hotels.
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