Frasers Centrepoint Trust rides on resilience of prime suburban malls in Singapore

CEO of FCT’s manager says big is better to keep ahead of competition, sees progressive wage model increasing propensity to spend in catchment areas

RICHARD Ng, the chief executive officer of the manager of Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), has seen a proliferation of malls in Singapore, including those that are part of integrated developments, over the past two decades.

Amid greater competition among malls, the real estate investment trust (Reit) has focused on investing in suburban shopping centres that are located next to, above or very near an MRT station – and in some cases, a bus interchange as well. It has also decided to concentrate on big malls, using sheer size to gain a wider catchment area.

Said Ng: “If you have a larger mall, you have the ability to provide a very good range of offerings and capture a wider catchment. Today, across our portfolio of nine shopping centres, we are serving a catchment of around three million people within a 3 km radius of all our malls. That’s about half the population size of Singapore.”