The $1.4 billion offer lodged out of the blue for Fraser & Neave's (F&N) hospitality business last week has focused the market's attention on the conglomerate's wider property division.

The offer from Overseas Union Enterprise for Frasers Hospitality includes a 20 per cent premium to the asset value, which was assessed at about $1.17 billion as at June 30.

This includes serviced apartments such as Fraser Place Singapore and Fraser Suites Beijing, as well as other buildings across the world.

Frasers Hospitality has been expanding aggressively, growing into one of the leading Asian brands in the sector. It is expected to own or manage 73 properties in 39 cities, with more than 12,200 apartments, by 2014. Frasers Hospitality is also enlarging its footprint in the Middle East. Yet Frasers Hospitality is just 14 per cent of F&N's property business, which has a total asset value of $8.2 billion as at June 30, as reported by the 'rm.

F&N's property arm, Frasers Centrepoint, has a large presence in a range of property sectors. F&N's investment properties, meanwhile, make up $1.57 billion, or 19 per cent of total assets. They come under the 'rm's Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management and Frasers Centrepoint Malls. They include stakes in local and overseas non'real estate investment trust (Reit) properties such as Robertson Walk, The Centrepoint and Changi City Point.

There are two Frasers Centrepoint'linked Reits  ' Frasers Centrepoint Trust, with a porftolio of shopping malls like Bedok Point and Causeway Point, and Frasers Commercial Trust, which consists of office buildings such as China Square Central here, and others in Australia and Japan. Frasers Centrepoint's stake in the assets is valued at $1.04 billion, making up 13 per cent of the 'rm's property assets.

Source: AmFraser