Another substantial office asset in a prime location in the Central Business District is expected to be put on the market this year amid improving property investment sentiment fuelled by lower interest rates.

All the owners of One Raffles Place, which is situated above and with a direct underground link to the Raffles Place MRT station, are understood to have come together and have appointed CBRE and JLL as joint marketing agents to find a buyer.

The indicative pricing (for 100 per cent interest) is expected to be in the S$2.3 billion to S$2.4 billion range.

One Raffles Place comprises two office towers – of 62 storeys and 38 storeys – and a six-level retail podium.

The total net lettable area is said to be about 875,000 square feet.

The development is on four land parcels with a mix of tenures – one plot with an 841-year leasehold tenure (starting November 1985) and three plots with 99-year leasehold tenures (two starting from May 1983 and the third from November 1985).

Ownership structure

OUB Centre (OUBC) is the registered owner of One Raffles Place, holding 81.54 per cent of the beneficial interest in the property for itself. The remaining 18.46 per cent beneficial interest in One Raffles Place is held by OUBC in trust for UOB.

UOB owns 10 per cent of OUBC.

The biggest stakeholder in OUBC is OUE Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), which has an indirect 83.33 per cent interest held via its wholly owned subsidiaries. This gives OUE Reit an effective interest of 67.95 per cent in One Raffles Place.

The other shareholders in OUBC are UOL Group (4.67 per cent) and Khattar Holdings (2 per cent).

UOB and some of its units occupy some space in the office towers at One Raffles Place.

Tenants in the towers include China Life Insurance (Singapore), Sinochem International (Overseas), Summit Asia Pacific and Pertamina International Marketing and Distribution. Virgin Active is in Tower Two.

Tenants in the six-level retail podium (including a basement level) include eateries, Little Farms, The Whisky Distillery, wine retailer Bottles & Bottles, Chagee, IWG’s flexible workspace brand Spaces and medical/dental clinics.

According to information released by OUE Reit for its second-half and full-year 2025 results, the valuation of OUBC’s 81.54 per cent interest in One Raffles Place was S$1.93 billion as at Dec 31, 2025, reflecting S$2,745 per square foot on net lettable area.

BT’s back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests a valuation of close to S$2.4 billion for 100 per cent interest in the asset.

The current gross floor area (GFA) of One Raffles Place is nearly 1.3 million sq ft, which is about 17 times the site area. This exceeds the 15.0 gross plot ratio for the commercial-zoned site under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2025.

Redevelopment angle

While the asset on its own does not offer immediate redevelopment potential, a redevelopment angle may be viable if One Raffles Place were to be combined with a neighbouring plot.

A potential candidate may be 22 Malacca Street, an underdeveloped site that has on it the 16-storey RB Capital Building.

A redevelopment scheme combining the two assets may qualify for the URA’s Strategic Development Incentive Scheme, which offers incentives such as bonus GFA.

The combined site could be developed into a predominantly Grade A office project with big floor plates and the most updated environmental sustainability credentials.

Typical office floor plates at One Raffles Place are relatively small at about 9,000 sq ft for the taller Tower One and 11,000 sq ft for Tower Two.

Alternatively, for One Raffles Place on its own, some potential investors may be keen to explore an extensive refurbishment of the asset, especially for Tower One, which was built earlier.

At 280 m, One Raffles Place Tower One is one of the tallest buildings in Singapore. The development used to be known as OUB Centre, where the headquarters and main branch of Overseas Union Bank (OUB) were located.

History

The project was developed by OUBC, which was incorporated in June 1980 as a 51:49 joint venture between OUB and its associate Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE). Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) took a 33.33 per cent stake in OUBC before construction began in October 1984, indicated earlier news articles.

Construction of OUB Centre, or One Raffles Place as it is now known, was completed in 1986. The Kenzo Tange-designed development comprised a six-storey retail podium, a 60-storey tower facing Raffles Place and a five-storey building at the junction of Market Street and Chulia Street, information on the OUBC website indicated.

In 2001, UOB launched a successful and friendly takeover of OUB during a period when Singapore was encouraging consolidation among local banks to be able to survive competition from foreign banks.

Banks in Singapore had also been told in mid-2000 to separate their financial and non-financial businesses. They had to pare their stakes in non-financial entities to no more than 10 per cent.

In 2006, UOB sold its 55 per cent stake in OUE to a joint venture (JV) between Indonesia’s Lippo Group and Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan; the JV launched a general offer for OUE.

However, the Lippo and Krishnan relationship soured later; in 2010, the Riady family’s Lippo Group acquired all of Krishnan’s stake in OUE.

Meanwhile, UOB said in late October 2006 that it had cut its stake in OUBC to 10 per cent. Together with United Facilities, the bank sold 4.67 per cent in OUBC to United Overseas Land, now known as UOL Group. UOB also sold 2 per cent of OUBC to Khattar Holdings.

In 2008, OUBC and UOB joined forces to develop a brand new 38-storey office Tower Two to replace the five-storey building along Market Street. The late Tange’s son Paul designed the new tower, which was completed in 2012.

In tandem with the construction of Tower Two, two new storeys and a rooftop observation deck were added to the older 60-storey Tower One. The six-level shopping mall received a makeover, and reopened in 2014.

The three components together were renamed One Raffles Place.

In 2015, KIO sold its 33.33 per cent stake in OUBC to OUE, whose stake increased to 83.33 per cent. OUE then sold its entire OUBC stake to its sponsored Reit, OUE Commercial Reit (OUE C-Reit).

In 2019, OUE C-Reit merged with OUE Hospitality Trust. In 2024, OUE C-Reit was renamed OUE Reit.