United Overseas Bank (UOB), DBS and Standard Chartered Bank Singapore have collaborated to provide a $945 million green loan to Allianz Real Estate and Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital Partners.
Gaw Capital Partners is a private equity firm in Hong Kong. The syndicated loan will finance both companies’ $1.575 billion joint acquisition of Duo Tower and Duo Galleria from a national joint venture between Singapore and Malaysia (M+S), the Business Times reported.
Duo Tower has 570,000 sq ft of prime Grade A commercial space, and Duo Galleria has 56,000 sq ft of retail space. They are a part of Singapore’s Ophir-Rochor precinct.
Lim Lay Wah, UOB’s global head of financial institutions group, told the Business Times, “The real estate sector has been leading the charge in the demand for green financing, with more property owners, managers and financial sponsors upholding sustainability standards as part of their climate action efforts.”
Singapore is a fast-developing hub for green and sustainable loan issuances. It has more than $6 billion of loan issuances between 2018 and October 2019, according to Patrick Lee, chief executive of Standard Chartered Singapore.
Previously, UOB, DBS and Standard Chartered were the green loan advisors, mandated lead arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners for Gaw and Allianz joint venture Ophir-Rochor Commercial.
Earlier this month, Allianz expanded its logistics presence in France with the acquisition of a €200 million core assets from AG Real Estate. The core assets are in Réau, Pont-d’Ain, Chaponnay and Onnaing, according to the local media report.