CapitaMalls buys Queensbay Mall

CapitaMalls Asia Ltd is buying Queensbay Mall in Penang for about RM658 million.

The acquisition will be made through CapitaMalls Asia's subsidiaries and an asset-backed securitisation structure.



CapitaMalls Asia will buy about 90.7 per cent of the mall's retail strata area and all its car park spaces, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Queensbay Mall is Penang's largest mall located at Bayan Lepas along the southeastern shorefront of Penang island and about 20 minutes' drive from Penang International Airport.

It is a family-lifestyle mall located at the heart of a 29.57ha prime waterfront integrated development which comprises a hotel, a wide range of residential homes and planned office towers.

It is easily accessible from the north of the island via the Jelutong Expressway and from the south via the Bayan Lepas Expressway.

This will be CapitaMalls Asia's second mall in Penang and fourth in Malaysia.

The other three malls - Gurney Plaza in Penang, an interest in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and The Mines in Selangor - are owned through CapitaMalls Asia's stake in CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust.

"Gurney Plaza, which we already own through CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust, and Queensbay Mall are the two best malls in Penang.

"The acquisition of Queensbay Mall, the largest shopping mall in Penang, will substantially strengthen CapitaMalls Asia's market leadership in the state.

"This acquisition signals our ongoing commitment to invest in Malaysia's retail sector for the long-term, following our listing of CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust in July this year," CapitaMalls Asia chief executive officer Lim Beng Chee said in the statement.

By Business Times