Qatari fund buys Citibank’s home in Singapore

Aquisition1The main sovereign wealth fund of Qatar will pay $2.5 billion to acquire an office block in Singapore in a deal it says is the largest single-tower real estate transaction in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Qatar Investment Fund, which already owns trophy property assets in London, Paris and New York, will buy the tower from a subsidiary of a fund advised by BlackRock.

Completed in 2011, the 43-storey Asia Square 1 tower in Singapore’s Marina Bay business district is home to financial company offices including those of Julius Baer, the Royal Bank of Canada and Fidelity. As the anchor tenant, Citibank has the right to display its logo on the exterior.

“We are proud to have developed Asia Square from the ground up after the land acquisition in Marina Bay, and leased the property to an excellent tenant base,” said John Saunders, Asia-Pacific head for BlackRock’s real estate division.

Saunders said he hoped to work with the Qatar fund to uphold the status of Asia Square as a hub for business and finance.

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