Canadian investor enters Singapore market

Manulife Real Estate, the global real estate arm of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corp., has acquired 8 Cross St., a 28-story office tower in Singapore, for $526 million.

The 355,000-square-foot property, located in Raffles Place Central Business District, will house Manulife Singapore’s operations.

The deal is Manulife Real Estate’s first real estate acquisition in Singapore and the second largest in its global portfolio to date. Also, Singapore represents Manulife’s third-largest market in Asia.

Manulife’s global real estate investment portfolio includes more than 62 million square feet across Asia, Canada and the United States.

The Singapore office market slipped all four quarters of 2016, extending its decline, which, for most market segments and locations, began in the first half of 2015, according to JLL. The already weak global economic growth was coupled with uncertainty caused by the protest vote with Brexit, Trump’s election, and a â