China&rsquo s GDP grew 7.9% in the 2nd qtr retail sales beat expectations

PUBLISHED WED, JUL 14 2021

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/15/chinas-q2-gdp-2021-retail-sales.html

SASSEUR Reit' s manager announced on Friday that its CEO Anthony Ang Meng Huat will be retiring and stepping down after more than four years, to be replaced by Tan Hong Lye, Cecilia from Aug 1, 2021.

 

Ms Tan will join the manager as the CEO-Designate on July 1, 2021 and will officially assume the CEO position on Aug 1, 2021. Mr Ang' s last day of service will be July 31, 2021. He has been CEO since March 2017.

 

Ms Tan will relinquish her current role as the senior strategic adviser to Vito Xu in his capacity as chairman of Sasseur Group prior to assuming this new appointment. She was first appointed to this role in July 2019.

 

Real estate veteran Ms Tan has over 15 years of related experience and expertise in cross-border real estate investment, real estate fund management, listing of and management of Reits. A former investment banker, she is well acquainted with public equity and debt capital markets, said Sasseur Reit' s manager in a statement.

 

She also served in several leadership roles as chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief investment officer and managing director during the course of her career in various real estate focused organisations such as KOP.

 

The manager has received the requisite approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its appointment of Ms Tan as the new CEO.

 

Sasseur Group' s chairman Mr Xu thanked outgoing CEO Mr Ang for his contributions.

 

On Ms Tan' s appointment, he said: " The board is confident that with her extensive experience in the real estate sector and deep knowledge of the Reit market, she will lead Sasseur Reit into the next phase of growth."

SASSEUR Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur Reit), which owns outlet malls in China, posted a 31.9 per cent rise in its distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.759 Singapore cents for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, from 1.334 cents a year ago.

 

Distributable income for Q1 rose 47.8 per cent on the year to S$23.6 million from S$16 million.

 

This was propelled by " strong business recovery" from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as asset-enhancement initiatives, resulting in greater diversity in trade mix and operational efficiencies, the manager said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

The distribution will be paid out on June 25, following book closure on June 11.

 

The Reit' s rental income under its entrusted management agreements (EMAs) was S$34.1 million, up 23.4 per cent from S$27.6 million the year before. This came amid a rebound in outlet sales compared with Q1 2020, when the Reit closed its outlets for seven weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak.

 

Excluding straight-line adjustments, EMA rental income stood at S$32.3 million, up 27.8 per cent from S$25.3 million the previous year.

 

Sasseur Reit' s portfolio occupancy level remained stable at 93.5 per cent in Q1, the manager said. The Reit' s portfolio comprises the Chongqing Liangjiang Outlets, Chongqing Bishan Outlets, Hefei Outlets and Kunming Outlets.

 

As the Sasseur Chongqing and Bishan Outlets are both located in the Chongqing municipality, the Reit' s entrusted manager merged the operations of the two outlets in Q1 2021 to achieve " greater synergy and efficiency" in operational and inventory management.

 

As part of the rebranding exercise, the two outlets were renamed Sasseur (Chongqing Liangjiang) Outlets and Sasseur (Chongqing Bishan) Outlets.

 

Anthony Ang, chief executive of Sasseur Reit' s manager, said the retail outlet industry will continue to be resilient during the pandemic as demand from domestic consumers remains high in China.