KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): Capitaland Malaysia Trust (KL:CLMT) is eyeing more industrial and logistic assets in Johor, given the robust demand and positive economic sentiments there.

In February this year, CLMT acquired three prime freehold ready-built factories in Nusajaya Tech Park in Iskandar Malaysia from Nusajaya Tech Park Sdn Bhd for a total RM27 million, marking the trust's entry into the industrial market, as it diversified its geographical footprint to Johor.

“Generally, the sentiment on Malaysia, from what I can see and gathered from speaking to investors, has been improving. There are several favourable factors such as a good performing equity market and significant foreign investments coming into Malaysia, like data centre development," said Tan Choon Siang, chief executive officer of the trust's manager, CapitaLand Malaysia REIT Management Sdn Bhd.

“Property prices are going up in Johor because of the excitement going around the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System as well as the government push to make Malaysia a manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia.

“As companies and manufacturers move out of China and relocate into Southeast Asia, we see a lot of the beneficiaries up north in Penang taking in a lot of foreign direct investments. All these provide tailwinds for Malaysia in general. We expect these good factors to continue,” Tan told a virtual press briefing on Wednesday.

Its acquisition plan in Johor, however, does not include retail assets. This is because retail assets there are "underdeveloped”, so not many fit its acquisition criteria, Tan said.

CLMT's portfolio includes five shopping malls, namely Gurney Plaza and Queensbay Mall in Penang; Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur; The Mines and 3 Damansara in Selangor; and the East Coast Mall in Pahang.

At market close on Wednesday, CLMT’s unit price closed unchanged at 65.5 sen, giving the trust a market capitalisation of RM1.86 billion.