INSIDER NEWS: Lippo’s OUE to Buy ‘Iconic’ US Bank Tower in LA for $367 mln
(Insider Stories) — Overseas Union Enterprise Limited, a Singapore-based diversified real estate developer, will acquire the U.S. Bank Tower for $367.6 million as part of its effort to build up its commercial properties portfolio, it said in a statement on Monday.
OUE, controlled by Indonesia’s Lippo Group, plans to buy the “iconic” skyscraper and related properties that is situated in the financial district of downtown Los Angeles, it said.
OUE will use its U.S.-based subsidiary, Beringia Central LLC, to acquire the tallest building in California along with related properties from Library Square Associates LLC, a unit of U.S. real estate investment trust MPG Office Trust Inc., which has office property assets primarily located in California and Colorado.
“U.S. Bank Tower is a well-positioned building that we expect to appeal to a broad base of both local and international office tenants operating in California,” said OUE Executive Chairman Stephen Riady.
“OUE is seeking new avenues for growth where value can be identified and realized. We intend to bring our knowledge and network to bear in pursuing new opportunities to generate value for shareholders.”
Rising to 1,018 feet, the building that was completed in 1989 was once a target in the September 11 attacks, Reuters News reported Monday.
The agency reported that a mortgage loan on Bank Tower of about $260 million will mature on July 1, 2013. It said MPG will receive $103 million from the property sale which it intends to use to refinance debt.
OUE is a diversfied real estate owner, developer and operator with an asset portfolio primarily focused on prime locations in Singapore. It also owns hotels in Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.
