Deals

Tan to lead combined S$26bn Keppel platform

The Singapore-based group will be merging its fund management platform, REITs and the infrastructure trust into one subsidiary and will install Christina Tan, the boss of its property investment division, as its CEO.    

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Singapore’s Keppel Corporation will be merging S$26 billion (€16.80 billion; $18.17 billion) worth of its asset management businesses under one wholly-owned subsidiary called Keppel Capital in a bid to expand its capital platform. In an announcement on the Singapore Exchange this morning, the group said it would be consolidating its interests in the business trust, real estate investment trust (REIT) and the fund management platform.

Specifically, this includes Alpha Investment Partners, Keppel’s fund management platform with gross assets under management totalling $8.6 billion as of December 2014; Keppel Infrastructure Trust, its listed infrastructure trust with S$2.3 billion in assets under management; Keppel DC REIT, the first data centre REIT to be listed in Asia; and the Keppel REIT.

Christina Tan, managing director of Alpha Investment Partners, has been appointed as the chief executive officer-designate of Keppel Capital. With over 20 years of experience in investing and fund management, Tan has been with Alpha since 2003. Under her leadership, Alpha has grown its assets under management to over S$12 billion.

In a statement announcing the restructuring, the firm said this will benefit the group by “strengthening its capital recycling platform and ability to make prudent and timely investments with an expanded capital base without relying solely on its balance sheet.”

Loh Chin Hua, the group’s chief executive officer, said the consolidation will grow its assets under management and expand the group’s capital platform for co-investing.

“Creating and developing high quality real estate and infrastructure assets as well as stabilizing and monetizing them to generate strong cash flow and recurring income are integral parts of Keppel's business model,” he added. “Keppel's asset management businesses currently manage S$26 billion of quality assets and contributed S$60 million of profits in 2015.”

The firm further added that the overhaul would not change the investments in the funds managed by Alpha Investment Partners or unit holdings in the property trusts.