Welcome, everyone, to our Link Results briefing for our financial year 2023 and 2024. My name is Christy Lai, the Director of Investor Relations here. Today, we are pleased to have our CEO, Mr. George Hongchoy; CFO, Mr. Kok Siong Ng; COO in Mainland China, Mr. Greg Chubb; and Group CIO, Mr. John Saunders, here to provide us with a business update and strategy, strategic plans. Now, I would like to hand over the floor to George, our CEO. George?
Thank you, Christy, and thank you everyone for joining us today. I'm pleased to have KS, Greg, and John with me here. I'll first start with the market outlook. Greg will present operational updates across our portfolio, and KS will talk about our capital management strategy, and John will wrap up with our strategies and priorities going forward before we open the floor for Q&A. Let's start with the overview. First, as we navigate through the complexity of the global economy, we are closely monitoring several key themes that could shape the macroeconomic environment and outlook. The Federal Reserve has signaled potential interest rate cuts in 2024. The pace is expected to be gradual, hence interest rates are expected to remain higher for longer.
Still, we believe this could offer a glimmer of hope for rebound in capital market activity and some restoration in consumer sentiment. The caveat to timing of monetary easing is the sustained strength in the U.S. job market, as well as sticky inflation. Attacks on tankers in the Red Sea have precipitated supply chain disruptions due to trade rerouting, and this has the potential to exacerbate existing risk to inflation. Fortunately, unlike COVID times, port congestion is low, which could help to alleviate this risk. The sustained tight financing conditions, despite some interest rate cuts, are expected to continue to be a dampener on the economy and thus demand. Next, we'll go through the prospects of our key operating markets, which have shown varied macroeconomic performances.
Hong Kong's retail market benefits from the GDP growth, and yet uncertainties to the extent to which cross-border consumption affects the retail markets poses challenges. Mainland China has shown signs of stabilization, which should be further underpinned by economic stimulus. Nevertheless, weak consumer sentiment is not to be precluded, even as the economy navigates the macro headwinds. Singapore anticipates a 2% GDP growth in 2024, but would not be spared for macroeconomic risks, especially external shocks, and that these could be somewhat countered by governmental efforts to address near-term challenges. Australia contends with the peaking inflation, even as GDP is slowing. In real estate, the different fundamentals and stages of in the cycle are manifesting in mixed forecasts for retail and office sectors. These observations emphasize the need, the critical need for strategic adaptability to exploit growth opportunities and mitigate risks in these diverse markets.
Now, let me spend a bit of time on the strategic areas in which we are able to derive performance. Amidst the softer global market conditions, our focus must shift towards reinforcing the resilience in our portfolio through concentrated strategic areas. Operationally, we are committed to maintain high occupancy rates to ensure stable cash flow for the business. In terms of portfolio management, our efforts will be centered on securing yield-accretive deals and enhancing asset recycling for improved capital utilization. From a capital management perspective, we aim to continue to strengthen our balance sheet with a comprehensive approach that bolster financial resilience, including unit buyback, to reward our unit holders. And lastly, the Link 3.0 pathway is designed to secure our long-term growth sustainably through a diversification strategy and a strong emphasis on investing in our talents. Let me now hand the call to Greg.
Thank you, George, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to begin by highlighting the general trends we've observed in our retail assets, starting with Hong Kong. Across our key operating markets, we've managed to sustain high occupancy rates. Hong Kong's occupancy rate was 97.6% as of December. Our retail rent reversions have met our guidance of a mid- to high-single-digit growth, despite a slight dip in rental reversions and occupancy in the second half as compared to the first half. The average monthly unit rent has increased to HKD 64.8 per sq ft and is above pre-COVID levels. Very importantly, our overall occupancy costs have been maintained at a steady and sustainable 12.5%. Next, I'd like to turn our attention to the recent and significant topic of cross-border spending outflows.
The trend of Hong Kong shoppers' increasing attraction to Shenzhen for entertainment and dining experiences has not gone unnoticed. While this hasn't heavily impacted our portfolios yet, it could represent a midterm headwind. It's critical that we respond with timeliness to these trends. We've addressed this through ongoing investments in AEI projects and tenant remixing, in efforts to ensure that we're enhancing the customer experience and ultimately, convenience. Tenant sales growth managed to maintain a rate of 1.3% year-on-year for the first nine months of the financial year. The supermarket segment has faced continued competition and reported a 6% year-on-year decline in sales. F&B and general retail have maintained positive growth, given our portfolio focus on non-discretionary and everyday needs trades and services. We acknowledge the recent network rationalization for chains like U Select and DCH, which may raise concerns regarding our operations.
However, our malls house only three U Select outlets, one of which has recently been renewed, and DCH, where we have seven shops, constituting less than 0.1% of our IFA, and all without any rental arrears. Activity has advanced to secure replacement tenants for these spaces if required. As we navigate the challenges of cross-border spending outflows and the evolving post-pandemic environment, our strategy is built on agility and innovation. A key pillar of this is the strategic remixing of our tenant portfolio, which aims to rejuvenate our spaces and cater to shifting consumer preferences. To gauge these shifts, we're invested in market research, utilizing this to understand consumer behaviors and inform our strategic direction. Also, we're committed to enhancing operational efficiency through the introduction of multiple new operating systems and technologies to counter cost inflation.
Last but not least, we're open to recycling assets that might be affected by these trends, ensuring our portfolio remains robust and aligned with market dynamics. I would now like to turn to our focus of asset enhancement initiatives, which stands as one of our core strengths. In the second half of 2023, we completed the asset enhancement project at Kai Tin, investing CapEx of $123.5 million, and achieving a return on investment of 11.2%. Furthermore, we are well advanced with projects at Butterfly Plaza and Kin Sang, with estimated CapEx spends of $26.3 million and $59.6 million, respectively, with forecast returns on investment of 11.1% and 10.1% for those projects. Importantly, both projects are on track for imminent completion. Now, on to car parking.
The structural shortage of car parking spaces in Hong Kong underpins our steady income growth in this segment, positioning it as a constant driver of revenue. In the first nine months to December, revenue from car parks and related businesses has held its growth trajectory. Although there was a slight decrease in the number of car parking tickets, it was offset by increases in parking rates. We remain committed to closely monitoring market dynamics and devising strategic responses to sustain our strong performance, and this includes the current rollout of our new car park management system, with the installation of this system to be completed across our entire portfolio midway through this calendar year. Now, looking further afield to Singapore, and I'm very pleased to report how the properties have performed, and also how the integration of the Singapore team has been successfully integrated now 12 months after our acquisition.
Growth trends are in line with that of the market. Rent reversions are sustaining a high single-digit growth, and there is inherent potential upside, given favorable market conditions. Tenant demand is healthy, and our efforts from tenant remixing to introduce more F&B and other uses is paying off. With regards to other initiatives at Jurong Point, tenant remixing and space optimization continues to help grow, grow our top line, and this includes the movement of tenants, such as Uniqlo, to upper levels, but relatively lower prime space, given their destinational pulling power with shoppers. This then releases prime space for the addition of new offerings and increased revenues. With regards to the suburban retail transactions in Singapore over the last year, the market has shown strong demand and a willingness for investors to pay for these stable assets at tight cap rates.
This has a positive read-through for, over time, for the valuation of our assets in Singapore. Now, looking at Australia, where we're seeing green shoots emerge for the retail sector. Very pleasingly, sales at our retail assets have now returned to pre-COVID levels, despite footfall still being on its pathway to recovery. Our assets have benefited from demand for F&B, as well as new store openings, some of which are new to Sydney and Australia. An additional vote of confidence is now how tenants are again committing to long-term leases for both existing and new locations. In line with these positive indicators, portfolio occupancy has improved to near full occupancy of 99.4%, and rental growth is now positive, coupled with annual contracted step-ups of 5%.
Completion of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest in mid-2024 will enhance rail connectivity to the malls by bringing easier access into the CBD. Our office portfolio has held its ground despite facing the challenges which have impacted the sector since the pandemic. Narrowing down the flight to quality transition, our modern assets are very well positioned with this trend. Notably, we've achieved 100% occupancy at 388 George Street in Sydney, with the last lease now signed and due to commence in June of this year. In addition, we've maintained a WALE above 5 years, which has also helped to cushion some of the sector headwinds. Notably, in Sydney, the lack of new pipeline supply over the coming next 2-3 years underpins positive outlook for the leasing in the Sydney office sector.
However, cap rates may continue to decompress, given limited transactional activity for the sector. On that note, I'll now hand over to KS. Thanks, KS.
Thanks, Greg. Good afternoon to all. We shall now shift our focus to the Mainland China portfolio. The retail assets have demonstrated a consistent recovery. In December 2023, they exceeded the 90% threshold at a blended occupancy of 92.2%. The achievements have not been without their challenges. Amidst the sluggish economy, we have noticed a shift towards more conservative spending habits, coupled with a growing preference for outdoor activities. Despite the softer market sentiment, our relentless efforts in portfolio management have resulted in continuous improvement in portfolio footfall and retail sales in third quarter, 2023. This was particularly evident during the CNY holidays, surpassing pre-COVID levels. Zooming into further detail about leasing, broadly speaking, our portfolio held up relatively well despite the slower market conditions.
With our swift adjustment in leasing strategies and the rezoned CentralWalk basement coming back on stream, rental reversions are showing signs of improvement. We are now progressively working towards rental reversions in the low single digits. In the office sector, occupancy rate remain a healthy level of 92%, surpassing the average levels for the respective districts. We continue to exercise caution in the office sector. For logistics, occupancy rate was impacted by an influx of warehouse supply in Changshu and a slowdown in business sentiment. Our search in the past couple of years for the right deal at the right price was accumulated in the recent acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Qibao Vanke Plaza. Announced on ninth February 2024, it was completed by end of February, and this addition has started to contribute positively to our portfolio.
Given its timing, we are comfortable with the pricing at which the property was transacted at a discount of 26% to book value, and having been the co-owner of the property with Vanke over the last three years, gave us additional confidence about the quality of the assets and the speed of transaction. During the transition period following the completion date, the current retail manager will continue to provide leasing, operations, and property maintenance until the mall is taken over by Link officially towards July, August. Moving forward, we'll focus on tenant remixing, repartitioning, and repositioning while integrating a blend of specialty F&B, trendy apparel, and experiential offerings to capture the Gen Z market in Qibao Vanke Plaza. Following the Carrefour's exit from Link CentralWalk, we've gone the extra mile to refurbish and reconfigure the vacant space.
The space under renovation is expected to require a CapEx of approximately HKD 25 million-HKD 30 million, slated for completion by second half of 2024. The new concept involves the transformation of the vacant space into one that draws in buzz and vibrancy, with a mix of the latest offerings in food and retail. It will also feature a diverse trade mix, including supermarkets, specialty shops, grab and go, entertainment, fitness, to capture growing market demand for lifestyle and experiential concepts, as well as the cross-border spending we are seeing on weekends. A recent survey indicated that Hong Kongers visited Shenzhen on day trips at least once a month on weekends, with shopping, dining, and entertainment at top of their agenda. Next, moving on to capital management. Link is strategically positioned to capitalize on upcoming opportunities.... supported by our healthy balance sheet.
Following our recent acquisition of Qibao Vanke Plaza, pro forma net gearing stands at 20.4%. EBITDA interest coverage as of September was 4.3 times, and average debt maturity, 3.4 years. Average borrowing costs have remained competitive at 3.74%, thanks to a high fixed rate debt ratio of almost 70%. Between January and March, we deployed over HKD 900 million in buyback of approximately 24 million units to bolster long-term value for our unit holders with yield accretion. In the next slide, I will delve into our FX exposure to provide a comprehensive view of our health and strategic maneuvers. The rights issue exercised earlier last year provided a buffer against the high interest rate environment and eliminated the need for near-term financing.
The next refinancing, amounting to HKD 9.3 billion, is due late 2024, 2025. This provides us with some headroom ultimately to obtain better clarity into Fed's intentions on the pace of its monetary easing. Over the next two financial years, not more than 20% of our debt is due for maturity per annum. Moreover, our financial stability is reinforced by substantially hedging our non-U.S. dollar attributable income and the currency exposure of our overseas assets. Our A ratings with all three credit agencies have remained intact, securing us favorable access to capital and keeping our financing costs competitive. This is clearly reflected in our key financial covenants, which are significantly below the threshold established by these rating agencies, demonstrating our solid financial standing.
I'll now hand the time over to our Group CIO, John Saunders, to provide us with more insight about the strategy.
Thank you very much, KS, and good afternoon, and welcome to everybody. Allow me, if I may, to briefly introduce myself. My name is John Saunders, and I'm the newly appointed Group Chief Investment Officer at Link REIT. As Group CIO, I'll oversee investments for both balance sheet capital and third-party money, obviously with a goal to ensure alignment across those investment mandates. Taking a look briefly at the current portfolio, there is still, of course, a significant weighting to Hong Kong. After the pro forma consolidation of the additional acquisition of Plaza back in February, however, the exposure to Mainland China has been stable at just a little bit under 15%. We overall, I would say, though, continue to see the effects of diversification, including, of course, the recent growth in the Singapore footprint.
Moving on now to the strategic plan. In addition to management of the existing portfolio, my role as Group CIO also encompasses oversight in terms of the Link 3.0 strategy, particularly as it relates to third-party capital. This is expected to ensure good coordination between the on-balance sheet as well as off-balance sheet capital strategies. And the strategic plan that's mapped out here, I think sums up quite well our multifaceted approach to evolve into a world-class, trusted APAC real estate manager and investor, leaning in on our asset base, our talents, and our values as an experienced fiduciary.
While the third party balance sheet capital will continue to be invested in more stable assets, the third-party capital would have more flexibility to be invested higher up the risk curve towards value-add investments with, of course, commensurately greater returns and commensurate fee revenue. In terms of the three core areas of operation, we will continue to look for attractively priced diversification opportunities in these current weaker markets. Although the bar to new investment will continue to remain high. The operating platform continues to be one of our absolute key strengths, which gives us a distinct leg up as we start to grow out our third-party capital management business. In respect of that, I would say that this will be a journey, and one that we are at the start of. However, I would make the following four comments.
The first is that it's a very good time to have a strong balance sheet. The second is that third-party capital managers are currently under some degree of stress, with many managers suffering legacy issues and an overall lack of capital. Which brings me to the third point, that that affords us a market opportunity to look at building both organically and inorganically, or potentially, a combination of both. But regardless, it is a very good time to be looking to do this, and patience has, must, and will remain the key as markets frankly continue to move towards us.
Thank you. Thank you, John. So we now will open the floor for Q&A. Please submit your questions using the Q&A function. So may I have the first questions? Okay, first questions. Our rental reversions in Hong Kong, do we have our rental reversion in Hong Kong target in FY 25? And, for our car parks rental income growth target in FY 25 as well. Thank you.
Great.
We won't provide guidance, but I guess the main statement to make is we'll be looking to capitalize for Hong Kong retail on our high occupancy rate, our continued growth in tenant sales, and a very strong position in each of the markets that we serve. So the prospect of us continuing to print positive reversions is our focus. We certainly have seen our reversions moderate from the first half into the second half. But one of the notable aspects is we've continued new leasing volumes at a fairly steady rate to what we have over the last few years, and over 40% of the new leases that we've written in the last nine months have been to new tenants, to the Link portfolio.
So our focus, as I think I mentioned at the full year, is a combination of balancing the financial outcomes and the physical outcomes, and they're equally important as we continue to drive the performance of our assets. With regards to car parking, our car parking business is very well positioned. We've seen tickets moderate a little in the second half in some assets, but certainly our ability to continue to increase rates is something that we will continue to focus on. I'll also add that the inclusion of our new car park management system, where we've now rolled out 10 of our properties, and we'll have our full portfolio rolled out by middle of this calendar year, will give us ultimate flexibility to be able to manage that portfolio to the maximum.
We remain cautious, but we remain very committed to driving outcomes and performance across both the retail and the car park portfolio in Hong Kong.
Thank you. So, there are quite some questions regarding the loft and leakage. So, the general questions would be around: How's the impact? And, can we quantify the impact of cross-border spending outflow in, in our Hong Kong shopping mall? And also, do we see any, the pickup of the property market in Hong Kong post the policy, which would help us to, dispose any non-core assets in Hong Kong?
I'll pick up on the first point, and I'll probably hand to George for the second point. I mean, I guess the only thing that I can point to is that we've seen a moderation in sales from the first half into the second half of the reporting period. Our sales growth at September was about 3.3%. It's moderated to about 1.3%. Pleasingly, both food and beverage and general retail sales remain positive, and we've seen some pressure in supermarkets, obviously, at -6%, which is down from -5% at the September reporting period. It's a really mixed bag, and it's very hard to find patterns at this point in time.
There's a lot of discussion around what's happening in the northern precincts, close to the border in Shenzhen, but there's no clear patterns that we can derive at this point in time. Some of our properties continue to operate in positive comps, and some are slightly negative. But it's something that we're taking very seriously. We continue to really focus on analyzing the performance of each of our assets, and we've undertaken some fairly significant customer research over the last few months as well. And what I will say, it's something that we'll continue to focus on very mindfully, to make sure that we can respond very, very meaningfully, to any of the issues that might come from spending leakage. George, do you want to comment on the capital market side of things?
Sure. You know, the market has starting to reopen, as interest rates, not while we're not going down yet, doesn't look like it will go up further. So I think there are a lot more investors starting to explore opportunities. We have discussed with different investors as well, as we have started looking at more opportunities in different parts of our geographies. Not too much more to add at this stage, because as we said many times, these transactions takes time, takes two parties at least, and to agree. I would say, though, I just want to supplement what Greg said about this northern leakage that we talk about.
A lot of media coverage and some of our peers have announced results and talk about that. As Greg has mentioned, there's no clear pattern yet. We're doing regular survey to understand it. Having said that, I mean, we've gone through different cycles. We've gone through change of customer shoppers taste over the years. And so, just need to make sure that our asset management team, our leasing team, continue to fine-tune tenant mix and trade mix in order that we keep our occupancy level high. So, we are as very focused on it, but we don't see the impact to be too significant.
Okay. So, next questions will still be regarding our Hong Kong portfolio. What's the latest retail mix between F&B, supermarket, food stall, and general retail? And how aggressively would we change the mix if cross-border spending outflow trend continues?
So we've got about 29% of our portfolios in food and beverage. That's increased a little bit over the last six months with regards to supermarket and food stuffs, it's a bit over 20% of our trade mix, and that has come down very, very slightly. So what we've gained in F&B, we've pulled out of supermarket and food stuffs. And importantly, our markets and cooked food stalls is just under 20%. So if you look at that on a consolidated basis, about 70% of our portfolio is related to food and beverage and food stuffs, and is a real hallmark of our portfolio. Link is famous for its asset enhancement projects and continuing to invest in both the physical and, I guess, the customer experience, and it's something that we will continue to explore.
I wouldn't suggest that we will aggressively change those statistics, but we will always continue to interrogate them. There's a number of asset enhancement projects that are currently underway or are currently under investigation, that will see us potentially change some of the aspects of our retail mix and offerings. That's something that the business will continue to do irrespective of market conditions.
I think it's just important to emphasize that the resilience of our portfolio, given that they are in community shopping centers. The convenience of them shopping from especially Monday to Friday, if they, you know, if some of them do travel across the border for weekend experience. By and large, you know, day-to-day, especially F&B food-related retail continue to remain strong because it's convenient and, you know, not a lot of people go across the border to buy their weekly grocery. And there's restriction for bringing in fresh meat and all that into Hong Kong anyway. So I think there are a lot of these elements pulling together, allowing us to continue to remain quite resilient.
Thank you. Okay, next questions will be regarding our China portfolio. It seems Vanke is in liquidity pressure as the bond price movement, and they're trying to sell their SCPG malls as per news flow. Will you consider buying more malls in mainland China? And if yes, what is your criteria and hurdle rate? And also, is there a cap on mainland China exposure?
Yeah, look, I think there's certainly, you know, some good deals to be had in China, at the moment, as evidenced by the deal that was done in February. At the moment, I think we feel fairly comfortable with the China exposure, somewhere around the 15% level. I think there could be opportunities to recycle some capital going forward. So I think at the moment, we're keeping our options open. But I reiterate that we're, you know, we're comfortable with the current exposure levels. And we'll keep looking for opportunities both to recycle and to take advantage of market dislocation where necessary.
Any concern on assets revaluation losses, particularly in China?
Again?
Any concern on assets revaluation losses?
I think so far, we are not seeing any other than our deal, which the valuers continue to hold pretty close to our first 50% book value. The second 50% that we bought that was much lower was considered a distress, not in line with market. So far, we are not expecting any big valuation changes. And besides our deal, we have not seen many other deals in the market that warrant us to worry about valuation losses in especially malls in China.
Can you provide some color on the cap rates of your Hong Kong and China assets? And do you see a risk of cap rate expansion from there?
So far, I think what we are hearing and seeing in the market is cap rates are holding. I think two perspectives. One is our cap rates have never compressed very aggressively during low interest rates environment. And if you look at our Hong Kong, it's somewhere 4 plus minus, China is 4.5-5. So I think looking at where rates are for both Hong Kong and China, and the fact that rates are starting to plateau and signals of rates coming down, we are not hearing any cap rates widening or decompression at this stage of the game.
Okay. And then regarding the gearing, so, is the current gearing level of 20.4% match with company expectations? Any roadmap on refinancing in the next two years, especially on the rights issue side?
I honestly think 20.4 was pretty safe the last 12 months, looking very comfortable into the next 12 months. We believe the three Fed rate cuts are coming. And I think if there's no more valuation downside risk, operating at this level is probably slightly suboptimal in my view. I think we would then capitalize on opportunities to gear up for the right reasons. Refinancing in the next 2 years, I don't see any issue with the cash at hand today, as well as the fact that where we are with our credit ratings, and we look at the secondary markets of our securities in bonds, we are trading pretty tight in the sub-100 credit margin. So I have no issue at all with the refinancing.
I think key is that the underlying assets, a large chunk of which Greg is running, Hong Kong portfolio, Singapore portfolio, China, I think the cash flow continues to support a strong interest EBITDA coverage. So I think we are probably the last kid on the block that the credit market, whether it's bank or non-banks, should be worried about. So clearly, unless there's a huge dislocation, I'm actually feeling comfortable with all the refinancing.
Next question is about the effective funding cost expectations in FY 2025.
Not a lot to signal other than the fact that we are pretty static in our what we call ABC, average borrowing cost, because of the higher portion of fixed rate debt ratio. So we have a 50%-70% policy with the board. We have operated at the ceiling. We don't intend to keep it to this fix. We'll probably let it roll off a little bit as we look at where the yield curve is signaling. And so I think with that, this is probably the upper range of our ABC for this season of the difficult period. And then we'll probably see it either plateauing or starting to come down slightly.
And it also depends on which geography the next investment cycle brings us to, whether is it Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong or China, and of course, Hong Kong now being the most expensive in terms of rates. Other than that, I think 3.75-3.85 is there about the range that we will be operating in for the next financial year.
Hmm. And then, because we are going to- we were going to do some acquisitions, what is the guidance on the gearing?
Our view is that going into two parameters, from a balance sheet perspective and then from P&L, clearly, assuming views are yield accretive and all, great. Even if we have to take a total returns approach where it's not immediately yield accretive, but it still creates shareholder value in the long term. Bringing gearing to slightly nearer to 30 plus, minus, I do not see an issue, if so long as we can keep our coverage at about 2.5. Currently we are comfortably at about 4, and we don't see interest rates going up and coverage coming down, gearing.
So I think all those fear factor, cloudy days have probably dissipated for a while, and I think this is where, like what John Saunders has been articulating, is it's a great time to be where we are as the sun starts to shine through the clouds. And we are probably going to take a bit more, I guess, aggressive view, honestly, before compared to the last 18 months, when we were struggling with the rise issue. Should we do it? Should we not do it? Is it going to be higher for longer? So I think those dialogue is probably getting thinner.
Okay. So, there's a few questions about Link 3.0 strategy. So first one, on one hand, we are looking into buying and investing quality assets globally, and on the other hand, we are running asset light strategy. So how do we align both concept under Link 3.0?
Let me perhaps start with through a strategy of what we're doing. Then I'll get John to go down to a little bit more detail, you know, when what are the assets types and how we're going to do it, which geography and all that. I'll start with first thing, which is very good to have John on joining our team. He just started two weeks ago, giving him some more time to, you know, get the business plan in a lot more detail. As we continue to engage with you, we'll share more. So, you know, give us some more time, you know, to give you the very specific detail.
I guess you are asking a lot of these details to try and model what we're going to look like. I will say this, we have been a manager of one REIT. We've done that for, you know, quite a long time. That balance sheet that has produced a very steady distribution over many years since IPO. We are looking at this manager also managing other funds, other vehicles, so that, you know, those will target funds that are not necessarily looking at a REIT-like return, so core-type return, but more, you know, value-add return, for example. And as a result, that need to be separate from how the REIT investor will normally look at investment risk and return.
We will obviously use our balance sheet to put some money into these, as a GP stake. And we will put money in there, to make sure that we have the alignment of interest necessary. So we're going to build that part out. So in the future, when we look at acquisitions, I guess the simplest to say today is, if it is a core, slightly core plus type asset, more like likely for the REIT, if it's a higher octane, we'll probably put in some funds that we'll set up. And whether it's a specific mandate or discretionary fund, those are things that we develop over time.
It will be a little bit more complicated to model without actually having launched any at this stage. Bear with us, but that's the direction of travel that we are looking to implement in 3.0. John has a little bit more detail.
Yeah, sure. Look, I think George has done a very good job of explaining the direction of travel. I think the point is well made, that Link REIT already is a manager of capital, and this business really is about matching capital to opportunities. So the balance sheet, I think, is fairly clear on its areas of interest. And in terms of the risk return spectrum, the balance sheet is fundamentally still focused on sort of core plus, well, really core risk that we get core plus returns on, because of the great work that, you know, the asset management teams do on their asset enhancements. And I think that's very much one of Link's superpowers, if you like.
Then there is another pool of capital that's looking for higher returns, value, and is willing to take a little bit more risk in order to achieve that. But when our, you know, excellent deal teams are out there looking for opportunities, you come across the whole risk spectrum across a number of different geographies and across a number of different asset classes. So in the past, without having that third party capital to harness, we've been seeing a lot of opportunities that we haven't matched capital to. With the growth over time of the third party business, that allows us to, you know, fully utilize our excellent sourcing capabilities in both different geographies and different asset classes.
But as George said, and as I said earlier, you know, this is the beginning of a journey. We're, you know, we're building a plan, and we have a strategic direction. But it is a very good time to be doing this, because of the general dearth of capital in markets, and because of the problems that a lot of managers are having with both legacy investments and legacy structures.
And just looking at the people on the screen, and we—John's doing the investment, and we talk about making sure that we have proper alignment, dealing with, you know, different risk profile for both balance sheet and fund management platform, doing different type of fund investments. On the top right of this chart that we show is the operating platform, and Greg taking on a wider role to make sure that we actually have an integrated platform across the geography. So that we have our operations standardized, we learn from each other, different parts of the region. Making sure that in terms of systems and process, that we really take it to the best cost level.
So, I think that's one upgrade that you're seeing. And you're seeing it in the faces in front of you right now, but also in terms of the daily operation, this team has been looking at how to make sure that we can take Link to the next stage.
In terms of, when we talk about the investment acquisition opportunities, what markets and what sectors are we looking at?
Yeah, look, I think, you know, obviously we've been expanding into Singapore, and I think that's been, you know, that's been both a successful foray and also, you know, allowed us to build competencies and begin to start moving towards a degree of scale in that market. So that's certainly favored. And again, you've seen us move towards some growth in footprint in Australia, which is also a market that continues to hold interest. So I'm not sure we're, you know, quite ready to divulge the sort of entire secret sauce of exactly where we'll go and with all the different asset classes. But it's very much a developed markets strategy.
The ability, as I said before, to grow our footprint, and to use that sort of special sauce of the asset management and asset enhancement capabilities that we've already been doing in those and other markets, I think is something that will continue to serve us very well.
Thank you. So, I see quite some questions regarding the buyback. Seeing the weakness of the share price lately, how are the plans for buyback? Do you have any buyback budget?
So I think we did almost HKD 1 billion buyback of almost about 1% of the outstanding units on the basis that we thought the pricing looks pretty good in terms of yield accretion, as well as in a way, signaling support for the unit price and in recognition of the unit holders. I think that will be still the position, that we continuously balance what we see in the market versus where the unit price is, what opportunities and allocate our balance sheet accordingly. But I think the bigger long-term picture is the fact is that buying back is basically buying back the same portfolio, undiversified what we have today, which is also the issue of where capital is not flowing towards China, Hong Kong.
So I think there's a need to do some in short term, but in the longer term, it does steer away from where we want to be in terms of the portfolio allocation. I think granted, there's a need for us to, to fulfill our duty to unit holders in the short term, but there's also the longer-term picture as we, steer the ship into where we want in terms of diversifying the portfolio.
So I think the long story short is there will be buyback, but it's not going to be announced, it's not going to be a big budgeted number of the balance sheet, that we want to make it a programmatic buyback like it was, when we do a big divestment and when the sun was still shining brightly on Hong Kong and China, and it made a lot of sense to buy back the portfolio mix at that time. So I think giving you a lot of the thinking behind the buyback is to help us all understand where we stand. It's hard to say that we want to put a fixed number to it.
Okay. So, there are quite some additional questions with regarding our Hong Kong portfolio. I will jump back to the Hong Kong portfolio first. Regarding the Hong Kong office portfolio, how's the occupancy?
So The Quayside, as of December, was in the mid-80% range, but we've been successful in re-leasing a large chunk of space, so that lease is due to commence middle of this calendar year, and we'll be back at about 98% occupancy. We've been successful with the retention of two of our large tenants at The Quayside as well. So pleasing outcome with that recent new lease. So yeah.
Thank you. And then, still some questions regarding the traffic, the shopper traffic, for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong malls. In the last few months, can you share more color in terms of the shopper traffic? And, has it dropped significantly as a result of the cross-border spending outflow?
No, it hasn't. And again, the patterns are just very hard to decipher at this point in time. In certain, we operate in clusters, so we've got 10 clusters in Hong Kong. And they're fairly equally balanced in terms of the number of assets and the IFA in each of the clusters. And some assets in a particular cluster will be up and other assets will be down, and it's very similar to the spending patterns. So it's something we're endeavoring to understand. As I said earlier, we're cautious, but we're certainly not alarmed, and we've got the ability to respond, given the purpose of our portfolio in serving the everyday needs of the Hong Kong population.
We'll be focused on convenience, we'll be focused on providing the best quality goods and services that we can, and endeavor to have price competitiveness, which I think is an important factor. We've got the ability to respond, and we'll be doing our very best, in the near term to do that.
Okay. So our next question is about our tenants in Hong Kong. What is the sales split, splits between weekdays and weekends?
It's fairly equally balanced. Again, given we're servicing the general everyday needs, goods and services, it is not in, say, what you would experience in a more discretionary-related retail environment with a heavier spike to weekends. It's certainly more balanced for us through the seven days of the trading week. That's the best way I can answer that question.
And then next one is about, also Hong Kong portfolio. So, how would we position ourselves in light of the cross-border spending trends and shoppers' preference of entertainment and experience?
Entertainment is not our thing. Convenience and everyday needs is. So we'll be ensuring that that is... We're doing that the best that we can. We'll continue to evolve our tenant mix, we'll continue to monitor the market, but you won't see us shifting to entertainment and try and compete with Southern China, for example, on entertainment experiences. We'll continue to play to our strengths, which is all about convenience and everyday needs, and we'll continue to do the best that we can in that space.
Okay, next question is about the acquisition opportunities in Hong Kong. So with Hong Kong budget deficit, there are some suggestions that Hong Kong government might consider to sell down its retail properties. If yes, do you see this as a opportunity for you?
As we'll look at any opportunities, we obviously have a bar, a hurdle rate that we set up, for different, countries-
Yeah.
Different type of asset class. And if it provide us the right return, we will be interested. And obviously, we have a critical mass in Hong Kong. We have a team base there, a large team base there. So hopefully we will be able to, you know, underwrite the return a lot better. So but, you know, we don't know when those might come to the market, but we, we'll look at all the good opportunities.
Okay. So, given the time is coming up, so it will be the last questions now. Some of the market participants are actively looking to buy some commercial assets at cap rate of around 6% or above. Will it be any negative impact to the overall portfolio valuations? And what is the current cap rate on average, do you use to value the retail and office in Hong Kong?
Some transactions in Hong Kong have been done recently. A lot of those cases were situation where the sellers were under distress. So using those as benchmark, probably not reasonable when our valuers are certainly not looking to those without any adjustment. So we don't see those transactions having any direct impact to valuation downwards. They are obviously market transactions that will have some benchmarking effect. Just like our acquisition of the 50% of Qibao, we're making a little more, the valuers are not looking at valuing the entire mall at the value that we pay, because the asset is worth a certain amount, we just happen to buy it at a discount. Is that right?
We are, like you say, cap rates in between 4-5 for Hong Kong. I think there's still no indication that this is widening, so I'm not seeing that as an issue.
Okay. I think it's the end of our briefing today. Thanks, all the management, and thanks everyone of you for joining us, and we will see you again very soon in our upcoming annual result. Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.