Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to vacate rental space at Alexandra Technopark

Logos of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) and HP Inc on building at the tech firm's Alexandra Road office. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Hewlett-Packard Enteprise (HPE) Singapore will vacate the majority of its occupied space at Alexandra Technopark (ATP) after the expiry of relevant leases later this year.

HPE, which occupies 191,846 square feet at ATP, is planning to vacate 178,843 square feet between Sept 30 and Nov 30, this year - which amounts to 17.1 per cent of the total net lettable area at ATP.

The lettable area also constitutes 6.6 per cent of the gross commercial income for leasor Frasers Commercial Trust's (FCOT) for June 2017, the company said in a filing.

HPE opened its new regional headquarters in a new office campus at 1 Depot Close in May. Due to the scale of the project, the move was staggered and the decision to end the lease was part of this long-term plan, an HPE spokesman told The Straits Times.

Last Friday (Sept 22), Bloomberg reported that HPE plans to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce or 5,000 employees as part of its cost-cutting efforts. The cuts at the firm, which has about 50,000 workers, are likely to affect staff in the United States and abroad, including managers, Bloomberg reported. It is not clear how the workforce in Singapore will be affected.

Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management, the manager of FCOT, said they have already secured commitment by a tenant for around 24,000 square feet of the space to be vacated.

The manager is also still in discussion with another tenant, Hewlett-Packard Singapore, which currently occupies approximately 304,920 sqf of space at ATP under leases expiring on November 30, 2017 and constituting approximately 11.1 per cent of FCOT's total gross rental income for June, with regard to their plans for the space.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.