KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Newly-listed Al-Salam Real Estate Investment Trust (Al-Salam REIT) will be targeting to acquire at least three new assets within the next two years.

Al-Salam REIT chief executive officer Datuk Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said the assets will be a combination of retail and offices within the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur and the state of Johor.

Given the current weak market conditions and sentiment, Kamaruzzaman acknowledged that many people would think perhaps the current timing is not the best for the group’s listing, but believes that Al-Salam REIT has a role to play.

“Investors will still look for an outlet to invest their money, and we hope to do our part to excite the market,” he added.

Kamaruzzaman noted that part of the proceeds from the group’s initial public offering (IPO) would be utilised to acquire new assets.

Moving forward, Kamaruzzaman is confident that the group’s future acquisitions will be value accretive and will improve the yield of Al-Salam REIT.

Kamaruzzaman added that the group’s property assets in Johor have seen an occupancy rate of more than 90%.

The group’s current portfolio include Komtar JBCC shopping mall, Menara Komtar, @Mart Kempas hypermarket, KFCH College, as well as a chain of 27 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets nationwide, and warehouses.

Al-Salam REIT’s IPO of 252.36 million units saw 11.6 million units made available for subscription by the Malaysian public via retail offering, which was oversubscribed by 2.96 times.

Al-Salam REIT is a unit under the state investment firm Johor Corp (JCorp), which is principally engaged in plantation, property development, healthcare, restaurants and investment holding.

Al-Salam REIT debuted on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia with a five sen premium to its IPO offer price of RM1.

At midday break, 98.64 million shares changed hands, with the group’s shares reaching a high of RM1.13, before slipping to RM1.06.

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