SingPost sells 10 HDB shophouses to Union Gas chairman for S$55.5 million

[SINGAPORE] Singapore Post (SingPost) has sold 10 Housing & Development Board (HDB) shophouses for S$55.5 million, after putting them up for sale and leaseback earlier this year.

The buyer is Teo Kiang Ang, the founder and non-executive chairman of Union Gas, who confirmed with Lianhe Zaobao on Monday (Aug 4) that he had purchased the properties. Teo is also the chairman and founder of taxi service provider Trans-cab.

The 10 properties were offered for sale via an expression of interest exercise and marketed by CBRE. They form the majority, if not all, of SingPost properties situated in HDB blocks, based on the post office locations on the group’s website as at June.

Teo said that the winning bid was made by one of his companies. The purchase price is at an 11 per cent premium to the S$50 million total asking price.

Spread across HDB heartlands, the asking prices ranged from S$2.4 million for a Teban Gardens Road shophouse, to S$7.1 million for a Bedok North shophouse. With a total strata area of 21,118.77 square feet, their gross yields range from 4.32 to 4.98 per cent per annum.

The sale and leaseback exercise is part of SingPost’s plan to divest its non-core assets while retaining its current post office services, a spokesperson from the company told The Business Times on Jun 19.

SingPost has closed around a dozen of its post offices in recent years amid a secular decline of the sector.

The company in 2024 announced plans to divest non-core assets and businesses to unlock shareholder value. This included the retail-commercial mixed development SingPost Centre, which was valued at S$1.1 billion as at September 2023.

Shares of SingPost were trading 1 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.505 as at 11.34 am on Thursday.