In April 2014, Mapletree expanded into the serviced apartment and corporate lodging business through a joint venture with US-based Oakwood Worldwide.

As at 31 March 2015, the Group has acquired three US-located properties, two of which are in Silicon Valley – the 184-unit Oakwood Silicon Valley and the 141-unit Oakwood Redwood City – as well as the 232-unit Oakwood Dallas Uptown, which is 3 km north of Dallas’ CBD.

Post 31 March 2015, Mapletree completed the acquisition of another corporate lodging/serviced apartment, the 300-unit Oakwood Raleigh at Brier Creek, located in North Carolina, and is in the process of securing its fifth asset, which is located in the West Coast.

The Group is also pursuing opportunities to acquire corporate lodging/serviced apartments in markets such as Australia, Japan and Vietnam. To date, Mapletree has made close to S$600 million in corporate lodging/serviced apartment commitments. It will continue to source for suitable investment opportunities in collaboration with Oakwood to further grow its corporate lodging/serviced apartment portfolio.

In November 2014, the Group acquired a A$93 million freehold Grade-A office building in South Brisbane, Australia, marking its first acquisition in the country. Post 31 March 2015, it acquired Adina Apartments, a 162-unit serviced apartment located at the edge of Brisbane’s CBD, and is targeting to close the acquisition of three office assets by end June 2015.

In Europe, Mapletree is expecting to complete the acquisition of a high quality office building located in the western part of London by end May 2015. The property is fully leased to a large multinational company. This is Mapletree’s first acquisition in Europe, where it is keen to expand its presence. Apart from London, Mapletree is looking to expand into other stable European cities, to acquire high quality fringe and decentralised office, corporate lodging/serviced apartment and logistics assets.

In 2014, Mapletree closed two Japan-focused private funds, MJOF and MJLD, raising JPY65 billion and JPY51 billion in committed capital respectively. Both funds exceeded their initial fund raising targets and closed at their hard caps amid strong support from repeat and new investors.

MJOF invests in completed income yielding office space located primarily on or around the fringe of Tokyo’s CBD and within the Greater Tokyo Area. Already, it has acquired two properties in Greater Tokyo post fund raising, on top of the four assets that Mapletree seeded into the fund at its inception.

MJLD’s mandate is primarily to invest in logistics development assets in Japan. MJLD has invested in two multi-tenanted logistics facilities currently under development, which are located in Osaka and Chiba, with ITOCHU Corporation. Another project at Ashikaga in Greater Tokyo has also been secured recently.

During the year, Mapletree opened VivoCity Nanhai, which welcomed its first visitors in May 2014. The mall, with a gross floor area (“GFA”) of 100,000 square metres (“sqm”) located in Foshan, China, is part of Nanhai Business City (“NBC”), a 42-hectare mixed-use development project of Mapletree India China Fund (“MIC Fund”) that is being developed in phases. Development of NBC’s Phase 4 – which will comprise multiple concepts including residential and commercial components, as well as an international education hub – kick-started in May 2014.

FY14/15 also saw the completion of SC VivoCity, located in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (“HCMC”), in end 2014. The mall, which opened in April 2015, is among HCMC’s largest, with a GFA of 62,644 sqm. SC VivoCity is the first phase of Saigon South Place, a mixed-use development located in the city’s affluent District 7, which will also have office buildings and corporate lodging/serviced apartments. Construction of its adjoining office development will commence this year and is expected to be completed in 2016, and will boast international Grade-A specification offices.

The year 2016 will see the completion of at least three development projects located in Singapore and Hong Kong SAR. The second phase of MBC in Singapore is on target to be completed by mid-2016, while Mapletree’s high specification industrial facility at Tai Seng is due for completion in the second half of 2016. The Tai Seng property is a mixed-use industrial development, which will include office space and a retail centre, and will be directly connected to the Tai Seng MRT station.

In addition, the Group’s first logistics development project in Hong Kong SAR will also come on stream in 2016. Mapletree Logistics Hub Tsing Yi, a Grade-A ramp-up logistics building, will provide about 85,000 sqm in GFA over 11 storeys.

Added Mr Hiew: “As we continue to grow our business, we are aware that there is softness in some market segments. In China, for instance, the residential and retail markets are seeing challenges although pockets of opportunities still exist, while Vietnam’s office market is still in the early stages of recovery. Hence, while we are still evaluating projects and expanding, we remain selectively focused on specific asset classes and micro-markets where we continue to see growth. We believe this strategy will allow us to maintain our performance and returns levels.”