KUALA LUMPUR: SIME Darby Bhd is in talks with private equity firm Blackstone Group LP to sell industrial property assets in Australia valued at about A$250 million (RM745 million).
New York-based Blackstone wanted to buy as many as five industrial buildings in Australia, Bloomberg said, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The firm had also agreed to buy a majority stake in three of Sime Darby’s property assets in Singapore valued at about S$300 million (RM882 million), it added.
Sime Darby, Malaysia’s biggest listed palm-oil producer, is looking to sell its property assets in Australia and Singapore to pare debt.
Chief executive officer Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh told reporters at a February 24 briefing that the group was seeking to raise RM1.5 billion through sales.
“In Australia, we have 13 properties and in Singapore we have three. We are looking at disposing of office buildings and industrial properties in the two countries,” Bakke told reporters then.
The asset sales and an Islamic bond issuance would help reduce Sime Darby’s gearing to 54 per cent by the fiscal year ending June 30 from 61 per cent currently, Bakke said at the time.
A Sime Darby spokesperson declined to comment on any discussion with Blackstone.
“We are working on various options, including asset monetisation to help manage the gearing level,” he said in an emailed statement to Business Times yesterday.
It was reported that the properties in Australia are the ones associated with the conglomerate’s industrial unit, Sime Darby Industrial Division, the world’s third-largest Caterpillar dealer.
The industrial unit has dealerships across more than 140 branches in 10 countries in Asia Pacific.
Sime Darby edged up 10 sen, or 1.31 per cent, to close at RM7.71 yesterday.