Two big-ticket commercial deals were completed yesterday, both in major business areas.

One was the sale of 137 Cecil Street building to a Shanghai buyer for about $210 million.

The transaction was completed through the sale of shares in the company that owns the freehold building, Cecil Pte Ltd, which was owned by Mr Cheong Sim Lam.

Under a leaseback arrangement, the buyer, known in details disclosed so far only as Mr Zhou, will lease the building back to Mr Cheong, who will then lease it out.

A few tenants have already started to occupy the building, where a refurbishment was completed recently. It was formerly known as Aviva Building. The net lettable area of the building is 67,550 sq ft, which works out a sale price of about $3,109 per sq ft (psf).

It is believed to be Mr Zhou's first investment in Singapore.

In the second set of deals, the sale of the 12th, 13th and 29th floors at Suntec Tower Two for $101.56 million was completed.

Maybank Kim Eng Properties, which occupies the premises, sold the properties to Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust, also under a sale-and-leaseback arrangement.

The total gross floor area is about 38,352 sq ft, which works out to a price of about $2,648 psf.

Rennie Whang