CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (SGX:A17U)
Singapore flag Singapore · Delayed Price · Currency is SGD
2.350
-0.020 (-0.84%)
At close: Sep 9, 2026
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Transcript

Jun 29, 2026

Summary

Distributable income grew 1.4% to SGD 678.3 million in FY2025, with strong acquisition and divestment activity and a third year of double-digit rental reversions. Portfolio occupancy was 90.9%, and guidance for 2026 is mid-single digit rental growth, with continued focus on Singapore and Australia.

Johanna Tong
Investor Relations Professional, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Good evening. Welcome to CapitaLand Ascendas REIT full year 2025 results briefing. I am Johanna from the investor relations team. Thank you for joining us here today in person at Capital Tower. For those joining us remotely, please note that this briefing is recorded and will be made available on our website. The session will start shortly with a presentation by Andrea from the investor relations team, followed by Q&A with the management. First and foremost, I would like to introduce the panel this evening. We have Mr. William Tay, our Chief Executive Officer. On his right, we have Ms. Koo Lee Sze , our Chief Financial Officer. Last but not least, we have Mr. James Goh, Head of Portfolio Management. Before we start, we would like to lay down some housekeeping rules.

During the Q&A, if you have any questions, please raise your hands and my colleagues at the back will hand you a microphone. Please try to keep to two questions each time, and if there is more, we will come back to you. For those joining online, you may post your questions remotely via the chat box. With that, I will hand over the time now to Andrea, who will bring us the highlights of the results. Andrea, please.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you, Johanna. Welcome and thank you everyone for joining this briefing physically as well as online. I will give a brief overview of the financial and operational performance of CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, as well as some highlights of our investment. First, some key numbers. CLAR continued to deliver growth in distributable income against a backdrop of economic uncertainty. For FY 2025, the distributable income was SGD 678.3 million. This is 1.4% higher than the previous year. The better performance was driven by accretive acquisitions of quality assets in 2025 and supported by the prudent management of operating and interest expenses. The higher distributable income translated to a distribution per unit of SGD 0.15005.

The value of investment properties rose to SGD 18.2 billion, which is an increase of 8.6% year-on-year from SGD 16.8 billion a year ago. On to asset management. As at the end of December 2025, the portfolio occupancy was 90.9%, and we achieved a high rental reversion of 12% for leases renewed during the full year. This is CLAR's third consecutive year of double-digit reversions. As at end December, gearing was healthy at 39%, and the average cost of debt for 2025 was 20 basis points lower year-on-year at 3.5%. Our active portfolio rejuvenation strategy seeks to ensure that CLAR's portfolio remains relevant, so we were disciplined and focused on executing our multipronged strategy for growth in 2025. We completed approximately SGD 1.5 billion of acquisitions, largely in Singapore.

This is one of the highest levels of acquisition activity since 2021. To recap, the acquisitions were six properties in Singapore as well as the U.S., and their initial NPI yields range from about 6% to 7%-plus. Besides acquiring income-producing properties, we also invested about SGD 350 million to develop new green-certified logistics assets in the U.K. There are two projects in the U.K., in Manton Wood and Towcester, and the expected yields of these properties are about 7%. We also completed two redevelopments in Singapore. They are One Science Park Drive, a business space and life sciences property, and 5 Toh Guan Road East, a modern ramp-up logistics property. These two new properties have achieved healthy leasing levels of about 81% and 65% respectively.

The good market reception reflects confidence in our rejuvenation strategy to future-proof our properties, and we will look to do more. We accelerated the pace of divestments in 2025, reaching about SGD 506.5 million in total. This divestment amount is a 9% premium to their total market valuation as well as a 14% premium to their total original purchase price. These divestments are in line with our capital recycling strategy to maintain financial flexibility and liquidity for accretive investment opportunities. We'll go into the financial performance. Comparing the full year of 2025 against 2024, gross revenue increased by 1% to approximately SGD 1.54 billion. The properties acquired in 2025 contributed to the increase.

They are DHL Indianapolis Logistics Center, a logistics property in the U.S. As well as two properties in Singapore, namely 5 Science Park Drive and 9 Tai Seng Drive. Their higher revenue contribution was partly offset by divestment of properties in 2024 and 2025. Partly supported by lower property operating expenses, NPI was up by a better 1.7%. As mentioned earlier, the DI for 2025 increased by 1.4% year-on-year to SGD 678.3 million. DPU for the full year declined slightly to SGD 0.15005 on a slightly larger unit base. CLAR had conducted an Equity Fund Raising in the first half of 2025 to fund investments. It was a private placement of about SGD 500 million to fund our acquisition. When we compare the second half of 2025 against the first half, both gross revenue and NPI increased by about 4%.

Contributing to the higher income were the two properties acquired in August, namely the data center 9 Tai Seng Drive and the business space property 5 Science Park Drive. The increase was partially offset by some divestments completed in 2025. DI increased by 4.9% to SGD 347.2 million, partly supported by lower interest expenses. As a result, DPU in the second half increased by 0.7% to SGD 0.07528. CLAR distributes income on a semi-annual basis. We have declared a DPU of SGD 0.07528 for the second half, and unitholders can expect to receive the distribution on Friday, the 13th of March. This section covers the details of all of CLAR's investments, which were summarized earlier. I would just like to highlight a couple of our latest developments. Besides redevelopments, we also carry out AEIs, which are Asset Enhancement Initiatives.

These AEIs are projects to upgrade our properties and modernize the facilities, thereby increasing long-term value. In 2025, we completed about SGD 29 million of AEIs, the largest of which was at Aperia in Singapore for SGD 22.7 million. At Aperia, besides upgrading the drop-off point, the office, and retail entrances, we also reconfigured some of the retail space on level 1 for better flow, and there are new F&B offerings to provide more offerings and choices for tenants and visitors. The new retail units are mostly leased, and the expected ROI is approximately 9%. At the end of the year, we have seven projects that will rejuvenate the portfolio and enhance returns. Currently there are three developments, two redevelopments, and two AEIs worth about SGD 730 million.

These projects are scheduled for completion within the next three years, meaning from 2026 to 2028. Continuing our acquisition momentum into 2026, just last week, we completed the acquisition of DHL Canal Winchester. The purchase price is about SGD 95 million, and the initial NPI yield is about 7.4%. This property was completed just two years ago and is fully occupied by DHL, an international logistics company. The WALE is about five years, and the lease term includes built-in annual rental escalation of 3.5%. The property is well located along a highway with access to three interstate expressways and is close to a cargo-dedicated international airport. The property is in Columbus, Ohio, one of the main logistics markets in the Midwest in the U.S.

It complements CLAR's logistics portfolio in the U.S., which comprises assets in three other Midwest cities, which are namely Kansas City, Chicago, and Indianapolis. We'll move on to the balance sheet. The gearing remains healthy at 39%. It increased slightly from a year ago, mainly due to higher borrowings to fund investments. Total assets have also increased to more than SGD 19 billion. The adjusted net asset value per unit was stable year-on-year at SGD 2.21. Okay. CLAR's financial metrics remain strong and we exceed bank loan governance by a healthy margin. Just going through some key financial metrics, the ICR remains at 3.6 times, and cost of debt has come down slightly to 3.5%. The percentage of our fixed-rate debt is also high at about 75%.

Our total debt is about SGD 7.6 billion, and it comprises various currencies such as SGD, USD, AUD, GBP, and EUR. The debt expiries are well spread over the next eight years until 2034. Over these two years, meaning 2026 and 2027 specifically, only about 12% of the total debt is due. On natural hedge, we continue to have a high level, about 76% for our overseas investments, which make up about 30-plus% of the portfolio. We also conducted the annual evaluation of our portfolio of investment properties. The total valuation of our 222 investment properties was SGD 18.2 billion as at the end of the year. This is a year-on-year increase of about 8.6%, or about SGD 1.4 billion.

This was mainly due to new properties acquired, as well as the completion of the redevelopment of 5 Toh Guan Road East. On a same store basis, the portfolio valuation increased by 2%, or about SGD 300+ million to SGD 16.6 billion. This was mainly due to cap rate compression. By segment, all three segments, meaning business space and life sciences, industrial, and data centers, as well as logistics, all recorded year-on-year increases. If we move on to portfolio occupancy. As shared earlier, the portfolio occupancy was 90.9% as at the end of December. We will go into each geography specifically. Starting from the left, which is Singapore. The occupancy rate of the Singapore portfolio was 91.2%. This is an increase of 80 basis points quarter-on-quarter.

Excluding 5 Toh Guan Road East, which just completed its redevelopment in the third quarter of 2025, the occupancy rate of the Singapore portfolio would have been higher at 91.7%. For the U.S., it was a slight increase of 20 basis points from the previous quarter to 85.5%. For Australia, the occupancy rate was 94.4%, slightly lower by 40 basis points. The occupancy of the U.K., Europe portfolio was 92%. The decline was due to a lease expiry at a logistics property in the U.K., which is actually slated for redevelopment. If you exclude this property, which is slated for redevelopment, the U.K., Europe portfolio occupancy rate will remain high at 98.7%.

Excluding 5 Toh Guan Road East, which just completed redevelopment in third quarter, as well as this U.K. logistics property, which is slated for redevelopment, our portfolio occupancy will actually be higher at 91.9% instead of 90.9%. We will go on to talk about the rental reversions. Rental reversions for the portfolio on the whole was 12%. Can refer to the last brown row of the table. In 4Q, the reversion was 19.6%, which is higher than 3Q and the earlier two quarters of 2025. The high reversion achieved in 4Q was boosted by Singapore's business space and life sciences segment, which had a reversion of 26.7%. Our strong reversion performance reflects the quality and relevance of our portfolio. And for the coming year, 2026, our guidance in the mid-single digit range.

The WALE of the portfolio remains stable at 3.7 years. In 2026, for the whole portfolio, meaning all four geographies, only about 20% of our gross rental income is due for expiry. I will end with the market outlook slide. Global economies are expected to remain resilient, although uncertainties to the outlook remain. In this current economic environment, we are confident of navigating through challenges, given our well-diversified portfolio in developed markets, our large tenant base, our good operational management, as well as prudent financial management. The investments in 2025 have strengthened CLAR earnings resilience and strengthened our portfolio quality. We will continue to pursue our portfolio rejuvenation strategy, and this is so as to enhance the long-term income sustainability and create additional value for unit holders.

I've come to the end of my presentation, thank you for your attention. We will move on to the Q&A segment. Those who are joining us physically, you can raise your hand and I will call on you. Okay. We will have the first question from Rachel for Macquarie.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Hi, good evening, William and team. Thanks for the opportunity to ask the first questions or first two questions. Firstly, maybe just on the positive side, your rental reversions have been very strong, as what Andrea has alluded to your Singapore asset. Maybe guidance for this year, can you maintain this kind of reversions? And where likely which market will be strong and which market will be a little bit weak? Yeah. Do you want me to ask my second question, too?

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay, go ahead. Yeah.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thanks for your compliment on the rental reversion. It's our third year getting double digit. Right up to 3Q, we were still looking at single digit. Until 3Q, we realized that we were gonna have a very high rental reversion from a lease in Singapore business park. It gave us more than 40% rental reversion from that lease. It's a huge lease, which is why we actually adjusted in 3Q. Last minute, we could adjust it up to low double digit. You've heard me mention that we do want to continue to push rent. Occupancy has been very stable and very strong, actually. If you look at all across all asset classes, in terms of industrial logistics, U.K., Australia, they are all above 90%, 95%, 98%.

The main gap is actually in business park in Singapore, as well as US office, which is about 85%. Rental reversion is important for us if, let's say, we continue with some leasing challenges in these two segments, which is why we have been trying to upgrade and do AEI to our properties in order to make sure that our tenants remain sticky with us and our assets are actually be meaningful for their occupation. Given that, I think we continue to look at mid-single digit in entire portfolio. Markets that we think they'll be strong continue in Singapore. In fact, Australia as well. Australia probably the one that will be giving us quite good rental reversion. We will continue to push for United States to give us positive rental reversion. Mostly will still come from Singapore market.

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yeah. If you were to break down in terms of asset classes between BP and logistics, typically our logistics assets are still below market, across almost all the geographies. As you can see from the rental reversion data, a lot of it is really supported by the large improvement in rents.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Maybe just to follow up, do you have a number of how under rented is your portfolio by geographies?

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Typically between 5%-10%.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Across all.

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

On average, yeah.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Thank you. Maybe moving to my next question, in terms of redevelopment, could you give us any update? I think you have one in U.K. Any update on your data center redevelopment and your Singtel data center as well?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

U.K. data center, not much change. We are still waiting for the confirmation of the power, which we expect in the first half of this year. We hope that we can start development probably in the next, after that, probably about next 12, 18 months, to start development. Singtel, I see you're referring to Tampines. That's one which has already expired since last year. There is also another one, I think you probably know about the Kim Chuan. It will expire this year, in fact, next quarter. These two, we continue to look at opportunities for development. We are still working out the development plans. For the one in Tampines, we are looking at trying to get higher plot ratio. That's considerations that we have before we decide what's our next step for that project.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Just to follow up, Kim Chuan, are you maintaining getting more power, or what's your plans for that data center?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Today context in Singapore, we are not able to increase power if there is no existing data center operator on site. Unless we work with another operator who will apply for a CFA 2, then that's potentially that they can come in into any other site. We definitely have to work with an operator. Yeah.

Rachel Tan
Analyst, Macquarie

Okay. Thank you so much.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay, thank you. I think, just now, Derek, you raised your hand. No? Yeah. Okay.

Derek Tan
Analyst, DBS

Good evening. William Derek from DBS. Just two questions. First one is, looking at your portfolio, I'm just curious, you talk about U.S. being a little bit weak, especially for offices. Could you give us a bit more color? Is there any leases that we should be watching out for the upcoming year that could be coming up, and that you see some form of downside risk from that perspective? Going into, say, this year, given where interest rates are, where are you hunting for acquisitions? Just curious on that. Yeah, thanks.

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay. Hi, Derek. On U.S., if you look at our lease expiry profile, you'll realize that only about two plus % of our income is up for expiry next year. In terms of the potential downside, or the financial income that's at risk is minuscule, next to nothing. What is going to happen is we actually have got a few large leases in the logistics space that's coming up for expiry next year. Typically, they are large sheds, but the per square foot rents are much lower than your BP space, so the income contribution is much lower. As we have all witnessed post-COVID, where there was this frenzy from 3PLs and end users to lease up all of the spaces where we were reporting 100% occupancy rate, we've now reverted back to the norm.

Where the market remains healthy, but the lease-up period would last anywhere between six to 12 months. While the market remains healthy, we think that the occupancy is going to be a bit bumpy. The headline occupancy that we're going to report over the next couple of quarters, you might see there might be a dip, but in terms of financial impact, that would be pretty minimal.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

On your second question about where the market is because of interest rates. We have maintained that Australia is one market that we can't acquire accretive. If it's new market, Korea continue to be not accretive. We mentioned that we have always been observing Japan, Korea, but Korea is the same as Australia, even where interest rate is. We are actually very keen to continue on our current markets, Singapore, Europe, U.S., and we'll continue to hunt in these locations. If it's Europe, obviously it's greater Europe, not just in U.K. I also mentioned whether is it data center. We look at data center and logistics in Europe, so it's not just in existing market, but new markets like Madrid, Frankfurt, Dublin, the other European cities. That will also include logistics.

I also mentioned that we've been looking at observing Japan market, given where interest rates are in the past one year, then with positive rental growth, that's a market that we're looking at. We'll continue to monitor. Yes, if you're looking at from an interest rate point, Japan interest rate also has risen, right? We'll be looking at this market and see whether cap rate has expanded. Because if you were to acquire at what has been transacted in the market in the last one year, 3.5%-4%, I think there is still accretion but it's fairly tight. We will see whether we can get better deals out of some of these in Japan market. Other than that, I think Singapore continue to be attractive, definitely because of where the title is as in leasehold. We have been trying to refresh our properties.

If you look at what we're trying to do, acquisitions that we have done, they're all mainly younger properties. Even in Singapore, they are brand-new properties while lease could be 22, 23 years left. They are all newer properties, better specs. If you look our acquisition in U.S., we have done one DHL Indianapolis last year, and two weeks ago, DHL Canal Winchester. With these two acquisitions, our modern specs warehouse in U.S. is already more than 50%. That's how we want to refresh our property, which is why I also mentioned development is one key strategy that we want to do, as well as AEI and redevelopment. Hope I answered your question.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Can we move on to the next question? May I have the question from this lady, please? Jessie from The Business Times.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Hello. Hi, William. Hi, everyone. Good evening. Is it on? Maybe two questions from me. I'm kind of curious about the Telepark data center. My understanding is that it's being redeveloped. Do we have a timeline of when redevelopment works will probably start? In the meantime, I'm guessing the tenant has moved out completely. Secondly, occupancies are quite strong across the board. I do note that for some of the Singapore properties, some of the older business parks occupancies could be a bit better. Could you maybe share some ideas of what Ascendas is doing to increase occupancy? Thank you.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thanks, Jessie. I'll take your first question, and James can take on your second questions. The property in Telepark, we are looking at development plans to increase plot ratio. If you're looking at timeline, now we are looking at where the government's consideration in terms of height limit. I think the government has mentioned that with the air base being moved, and as well as flight technology today, they can look at freeing up a lot of air space, which means that buildings can go higher. This is the reason why we've been asking the government to consider some plans for higher plot ratio. I also shared before, when it's not part of the permitted master plan parameters, it does takes a bit longer, easily a year, to get any of these plans being approved.

I will say that we probably take this year to do all this planning. Possibly, if there's a development or any other options that we are looking at, we will look at it after we get the confirmation of what and what we can build on the site. Maybe next year.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Sorry. Currently, should we assume that occupancy is what is reflected in the supplementary information?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yes. Yeah. For those who are under plan for redevelopment, we also shared that there is no reason for tenants to come into the site, and we will not actually be actively marketing it, because if it's slated for development or redevelopment. Tenants comes in and then subsequently will relocate. There's a lot of disruption to their occupation. For example, U.K., where we decided to redevelop one of the site that's just vacated, is part of our plan that we know that occupancy will fall away, so that we can then prepare the site for development.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay, thank you.

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Hi, Jessie. On your question about Singapore legacy BP spaces, I suppose, if you look at the different subclusters that we have and where perhaps the occupancy is a bit lower, will be one at the IBP cluster, which is in Jurong. We are currently at about an average about 50% occupancy. The reason for that is severalfold. We are progressively redeveloping the assets there to take advantage of the new MRT station that's going to come up. We have got 27 IBP that is currently under construction, very close to TOP, and that would have direct linkage via pedestrian walkway or bridge to the new station when it opens.

What we are also planning to do is, progressively, we will be redeveloping the other buildings that's within walking distance of the MRT, and in a way you can think of it as a warehousing those assets, and you expect that the occupancy would continue to come down as a result. Again, given the diversity of our portfolio, we feel that this is a worthwhile trade-off because the future payoff is going to be much higher than if you were to try and just lease these on an as-is-where-is basis. Next, I move on to the other cluster, which is in Changi, CBP. That was in the news about a year and a half back, when there was a lot of concern, there was a lot of negative news flow about that place.

If you look at how we have performed year on year, last year on average, we were doing about 81%. This year in December, we are at about 83%, there's a slight 100-basis-point improvement. Might not seem like a large number, but in a difficult and challenging market, we continue to outperform. There are a lot of things that we are doing or have done, including applying to the authorities for change of use from BP space to FSS, which is education. We have got one of our buildings, 3 CBP, where we have actually done that. Progressively, we also have pockets of spaces within CBP that's been converted into such educational usage. Our game plan is really to continue to engage the authorities, to get them to accept different or adjacent users, such that then we can really revitalize the entire vicinity.

I'm very happy to say that the regulators are now a lot more open and receptive towards change of use because they have also come to the realization that the legacy demand or users of BP spaces have largely reduced their requirements and that we really need to find new sources of demand to backfill those spaces. They are really on board and helping us with that as well. I hope I've answered your question.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you, Jessie and James.

Yes, William.

May I have the next question? Joy from HSBC.

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

Hey, thanks. First question on cost of debt. Can we get some guidance and in terms of currency of debt that is expiring for 2026 and, if possible, 2027? Second question on divestment. Can we look at the same pace or even more divestment in 2026? In terms of expectation on CapEx as well for 2026. Thank you.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

I will take the second question, and Koo Lee Sze can take your first. Divestment, we have done SGD 500 million last year. This year, we believe that we will work around SGD 300 million-SGD 500 million in order to recycle and fund any acquisitions that we may come across. In terms of pace, we have some interest in some of the assets, as well as some of our assets that we think that it will be good for us to divest. We are definitely working on this. I think you look at our track record, whether is it unsolicited interest or if it's an asset that we have pushed out to the market, we're always very keen to look at premium. We definitely want to be able to recycle well in order to acquire better. Derek, hope you agree with that. Have I answered your question?

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

The CapEx for 2026.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

CapEx now, in terms of our development and redevelop, about SGD 700 million ongoing. We will have about SGD 200, SGD 220, SGD 230 of value to be turned on this year, primarily from Singapore 27 IBP, as well as the U.S. logistics. That has freed up another SGD 200 million for redeployment. I also mentioned that, on a rolling basis, every three years, we hope to be able to hit about SGD 1.5 billion. With that, with U.K. assets that we have slated for redevelopment. The question about Telepark and all this adding on, we will still look at possibly the same fraction. Now about SGD 500 million, we'll add on more because of SGD 200 million will be freed up. We add on more for until the end of the year.

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

That probably means if you are looking at acquisition, you will have to tap the market for equities.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Acquisitions, if you look at where we are in terms of leverage, even for our last acquisition with Columbus, in terms of leverage, hardly any impact, 0.1 or less. If you come across big acquisitions, because we are looking at between SGD 300 million-SGD 500 million, that's actually quite sizable already. While I recognize that, for example, Derek mentioned, which is a fair point, our track record for the past five years, we've done about SGD 1 billion each year, right? If we do on the same trajectory, we may have to look at tapping the market, yes. Nothing, obviously, I'm trying to say right now, with the divestment, hopefully we can actually be able to recycle this capital. I'm done.

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

Okay. Thank you.

Koo Lee Sze
CFO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

The interest rate for this year is a reduction from 3.7%-3.5% this year. Based on what we see, we expect it to be broadly around this range for 2026.

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

3.5?

Koo Lee Sze
CFO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay.

Yeah. For expiry for 2026 and 2027, portion of SGD and the rest are AUD and USD.

Joy Wang
Analyst, HSBC

Your SGD debt will come down, your USD and Aussie debt will still go up.

Is that fair?

Koo Lee Sze
CFO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

No, it will not. It is refinancing, right? You're asking which currency. It's AUD and USD mainly for the 2026 and 2027, a small portion of SGD debt that's due for refinancing.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Joy, if you look at the tower, if you are asking about currency, I think Lee Sze has mentioned. Part of it actually is foreign currency. Foreign currency against what we have contracted five years ago, easily 200, 250 basis points higher. With the Sing Dollar, Sing Dollar I think is fairly stable from what we have done five, 10 years ago. That tower will still be higher cost than what we have contracted. Which is a norm because every of these towers were contracted five, seven, 10 years ago. We will still be looking at refinancing on higher cost. Because with divestment, with new acquisition, new debt will come in at a lower cost. Hopefully we are able to maintain, and we are all looking at maintaining about 3.5%. Hope that addresses your question. Thanks.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you, Joy. We will move to Mervin. You may ask your question from JPM.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Hi, William. Maybe we can go to slide 39. Those are U.S. expiries. Just want to double-check for the 2027 expiry, is that all logistics? And maybe you can update us in terms of what is happening with the upcoming San Francisco office leases.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

2026 are mostly logistics.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

'27?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

2027 is office. Majority is office. One SF building will be in the 2027 bucket.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Are they staying, or?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

They are staying right now.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay. Can we touch on One-north precinct? There's potential movement within A*STAR. Heard that Canon's moving Galaxis to ATP. Can we talk about the competitive pressures there once A*STAR moves out, whether other people want to poach some of your tenants? Thanks.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

You can add on. Canon is still with us. If you look at occupancy numbers, Galaxis, there's a dip. I think we all know that Shopee has downsized. They have renewed the floors that they need. They have moved the ShopeePay to SeaMoney, to Rochester. That happens. While we have talked about it for many quarters, it only happened in last quarter of last year. We are marketing those sites. There are the two floors that we have right now. We have pipelined, and I think we are on track to be able to lease them up. Right? If you are asking whether there's any relocation musical chair, I think we face all the pressure all the time, including us poaching from other landlords. Even for Geneo, we also have mentioned that there are new tenants as well as relocation tenants that we have worked on.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Sure.

James Goh
Head of Portfolio Management, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Just to add on to what William has said. Personally, I'm not too concerned, particularly for Galaxis. It has got direct connection to the MRT, it's got fantastic retail offerings. It's just on the fringe of the CBD area. Personally, like I say, I think that we'll lease it. It's just a matter of timing and the right tenant coming along.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Final question from me. Quite excited in 2027, 2028 with some of your developments come on stream. This should be a big boost to earnings. You're doing more developments it seems, which are much higher yielding than acquisitions. Can you talk about which markets look a bit attractive in terms of development or greenfield development? Is that U.S. more so, or still Singapore? Thanks.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

If it's redevelopment, more Singapore. Where there's overseas opportunities, depending on the expiry. Just like U.K. data center is because of the tenant expire. Before they expire, we already put in application for higher power. The logistics that we come across in U.K., because of potential expiry about a year ago, we started looking at that and we planned that for redevelopment. Singapore continue attractive given the fact that, if you look at all current existing projects that we have, the key consideration is higher plot ratio. With higher plot ratio, we can build better quality. Higher plot ratio, we can introduce, for example, at J'NO we have introduced complementary users. The amenities are doing very well. That actually is a good selling point for employees of our tenants.

The other point also is because as we refresh our property, flight to quality is actually one key consideration the tenants has. While it's not easy for them to relocate, because if we were to come into a new building, they sign on a 5 years, 10 years lease. That's actually attractive for them because they can refresh their own office space, their own usage. Coupled with all these new work habits of work from home, flex office, for example, J'NO, I think we also have introduced a tenant who are able to do co-lab, like co-working. These are actually new solutions that we have bring about in our development. These are areas that we want to be able to continue. Singapore will continue to be a place for us to look at development and redevelopment.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Just to clarify also, you said on a rolling basis you have about SGD 1.5 billion worth of-

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

We've obviously about SGD 1.5 billion.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Yeah.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yeah. You look at the projects that has been turned on, each year we probably can turn on SGD 200 million, SGD 300 million. This was the pace that we have built up in the past two, three years. We hope to accelerate that. We can then do more development, and hopefully as the time comes to these new developments as you are in commission again, we will have that SGD 500 million, that kind of a rolling basis.

Mervin Song
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay. Excellent.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you, Mervin. We'll have the next question from Dale, from DBS.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Yep. Thank you. Hi, William and team. Just wanted to follow up on what you just mentioned. When you do a redevelopment, you want to hopefully get more plot ratio, better use. Going back to the IBP example, what should we be expecting when you want to rejuvenate the assets there? What kind of ROI are we expecting? Then, what's going to be changing there in terms of the kind of tenants you can attract?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

IBP, most of the business park and Singapore assets in terms of development, we still be looking at, say about 7%. For example, J'NO was because of the size of the project and the quality that we have built in, when we first announced about 6.3%. Where we have landed in terms of the occupancy as well as the renter, it has improved. It's much better than 6.3%. If you take a redevelopment of 5 Toh Guan, we announced that time between 7.5%-8.5%. We have achieved today about 8%. I think this is where the yield on cost is attractive for us to develop, especially, for example, IBP, as James mentioned, is near MRT station, and that's actually be a game changer for us.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

In terms of the tenants that you can attract, do you expect it to be different from the kind of tenants that are typically there now?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Variety of tenants. Okay, if a traditional BP tenants will be attracted to new buildings, just like Geneo we have demonstrated, there are relocation. It is 1 million sq ft. It is huge, and we can get tenants, both new and relocation tenants. I think that is where it is attractive for existing traditional BP tenants. What James has mentioned, we are not just looking at traditional BP tenants. Given some of these good location, take for example, IBP near MRT station, we definitely will try to see whether we can incorporate other usage. Potentially, if part of the higher plot ratio, we may be asked for wider use to bring in other tenants to be able to have a better ecosystem.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Potential to double plot ratio?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Don't know yet.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

My second question is on the Ki m Chuan data center. Like you're saying, they'll be expiring soon, right? What are the plans? Like you mentioned also, that the CFA tool, that will probably affect whether you are able to redevelop or use it for data center again. What should we be expecting for that site and as well as, I think there's another one coming up next year, right?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

No more.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Same term. This is the last one, right?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yeah.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Okay.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

I think I mentioned for existing data center, there is no way we can push ahead to redevelop a data center. We definitely need a CFA license. It's either we partner with somebody or obviously we try to apply on our own. Our current position is we prefer to work with operator for these two sites. It's actually challenging given the fact where the government has announced about where they want the new data center hub to be. Even a new data center operator were to be able to be awarded a license, I think the government also will encourage them to go to Jurong Island. For Telepark in Tampines, the underlying land use is commercial. To be honest, I think it makes sense for us to redevelop or else look at commercial development, not a data center.

Kim Chuan is existing data center. Because of the restriction of getting new power, the alternative will be industrial. If you look at high-tech building industrial, they are probably similar in terms of core and shell, in terms of rental to a data center. There is hardly any trade-off because a core and shell, if we lease out to Kim Chuan, is the most high-tech development.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Okay. Got it. Just to recap, I think with the last acquisition, sponsor now also has some data center operating capabilities, right? They could also be someone you partner with in terms of data center?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yes.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Okay.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

That's one other option. One option. As I just mentioned, we can apply on our own.

Dale Lai
Analyst, DBS

Yeah. We can. Thank you.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you, Dale. We'll just ask one question online. There's a question about what is management's plan to increase distributable income and DPU?

Koo Lee Sze
CFO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Maybe I'll try to answer that. I think the question was about the expansion of the enlarged unit base. Probably just to clarify, we did the EFR last year at the beginning of June. We managed to complete the acquisition only in August. I think there's a small time gap. That's why it resulted in the slight dip of 1% drop in DPU. Of course, we can't, but if we had been able to do it, DPU would have been stable, same as last year. We do the EFR to actually to fund DPU accretive acquisitions. It will be accretive. I'm sure that answered the question.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Okay. Thank you for Koo Lee Sze. We'll move on to the next question, which is Jessie from Business Times.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Hello. Sorry, I wanted to clarify this earlier also. The part on Shopee. Just to understand. Currently they only have space in Science Park and Rochester, and the two floors, and Galaxis. The two floors you mentioned, which we are marketing those sites, the two floors that we have right now, we have pipeline. I think we're on track to be able to lease them properly. These two floors are at Galaxis.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Galaxis.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Okay. This is not a downsizing. This is just moving people around or?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

It's a downsize in Galaxis. SeaMoney is not considered business park.

When they are given the license to be able to go into financial institution, they have to go into a commercial building.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Okay.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

They have relocated that part of their business to Rochester Commons, which is a commercial building.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Right. The two floors are being backfilled.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Will be backfilled. Yes.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

We can say Ascendas is confident that they will be backfilled?

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Yes.

Jessie Lim
Correspondent, The Business Times

Okay. Thank you.

Andrea Ng
Investor Relations, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Thank you. We're almost at the hour, if there are any final questions from the audience, you may raise your hand so that I can call out your name, and you may ask the next question. Okay. If there are no further questions, we will end this results briefing. Thank you everyone for joining online as well as physically. We wish you a good evening ahead.

William Tay
CEO, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

I bring this to a close. I just wanted to thank the investment team, asset management team. If you look at our 2025, it's a very busy year for us. The staff here in CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, as well as our asset managers, property managers, has been working very hard. Thank you so much. Thank you