ST : MARINA BAY FINANCIAL CENTRE PHASE 1

Apr 9, 2010

MARINA BAY FINANCIAL CENTRE PHASE 1

Nearly all office space taken up

By Esther Teo

NEARLY all of the first phase of the giant Marina Bay Financial Centre
(MBFC) has been leased ahead of its completion later this year.

Every office suite - with the exception of a small percentage reserved for
existing tenants' expansion - is now taken, several months prior to the
phase's official completion in the third quarter.

Phase 1 consists of commercial Towers One and Two, and has a total office
space of about 1.6 million sq ft.

MBFC management company Raffles Quay Asset Management (RQAM) announced
yesterday that Prudential Asset Management had signed up to be a tenant and
Barclays Capital was taking more space. Pre-committed tenants include BHP
Billiton, Macquarie and Nomura.

Barclays Capital will be taking a 10-year lease on approximately 350,000 sq
ft of space, and occupy 14 floors of the 50-storey commercial Tower Two from
the first quarter of next year.

Prudential Asset Management will move into 37,000 sq ft of space next year
in MBFC's Tower Two and occupy 11/2 floors on a nine-year lease.

RQAM chief executive Wilson Kwong said that there had been strong interest
from global companies for the Grade A office space, with good pre-commitment
levels from well-regarded tenants being testament to MBFC's claim to be
'Asia's Best Business Address'.

The development offers flexible and state-of-the-art office space to
multinational companies looking to consolidate their operations at one
location, he added.

Barclays Capital director Quek Suan Kiat said that the proximity of MBFC
Tower Two to the company's current office space at One Raffles Quay was a
key factor in its choice of location.

'We see this consolidation of space as beneficial to our employees and for
service delivery to our clients,' he said.

MBFC is being developed by a consortium comprising Hongkong Land, Cheung
Kong/Hutchison Whampoa and Keppel Land.

In 2006, the consortium said that it would spend $2 billion on the first
phase of the development.