CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust (CMMT), the country's largest pure-play shopping mall property trust, is actively looking to add more malls to its portfolio.
"We're on an acquisition path," said Sharon Lim, chief executive officer of the trust's manager, CapitaRetail Malaysia REIT Management Sdn Bhd.
CMMT, which was publicly listed last July, recently announced it was buying East Coast Mall in Kuantan.
Lim expects the transaction to be completed in the fourth quarter this year.
When completed, CMMT will have a portfolio of four malls, the rest being Gurney Plaza in Penang, an interest in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and The Mines in Selangor.
The three malls were valued at RM2.43 billion as at end-June.
"We've been very active in the market and we'll continue to do (more acquisitions) as and when we see good quality assets on the table," Lim told reporters at CMMT's second quarter financial results briefing, Tuesday.
CMMT plans to fund any purchase via a combination of funds raised by unitholders as well as bank borrowings.
Any new mall it buys must meet certain criteria, such as having a catchment of at least 300,000 to 400,000 people and sustainable rents, she said.
CMMT registered a distributable income of RM29.8 million for the second quarter this year, which is 7.6 per cent more than what it forecast in its listing prospectus.
(There were no comparative figures for the previous year as the company was only set up last year.)
The income translated to a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2 sen, which is 8.1 per cent more than it forecast.
This brings its total distribution for the first half of the year to 3.9 sen per unit, putting it well on track to achieve its DPU forecast of 7.46 sen for the full year.
Its gross revenue for the quarter stood at RM57.2 million, while net property income came in at RM40.8 million. Both were in line with the company's forecast.
"We continued to see strong demand for retail space in our malls, as reflected in our nearly-full occupancy rate of 99.1 per cent," Lim said, adding that outlook for the second half of the year remained stable.
On whether CMMT aims to increase its interest in Sungei Wang, she said there was no push for it to do so at the moment, although "there are always people in talks".
CMMT already has control over the mall with its interest of about 62 per cent and it would not make financial sense to buy more now, she said.
"I'm not closing the door, but I would say, not at the moment." –Business Times
