Goldman prunes property-linked jobs here

408 words
11 November 2008
Business Times Singapore
English
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

Some have been offered positions elsewhere in group

(SINGAPORE) About a dozen jobs in Goldman Sachs' real estate-related operations in

Singapore were lost under a global downsizing involving some 3,200 employees at
the US bank last week.

BT understands the bulk of the positions cut here were from the real estate
principal investment team, which looks after property investments by the bank as
well as its managed property funds in Southeast Asia, principally Singapore.

Some of them have been offered positions elsewhere in the group, but the team has
been reduced to just one or two persons, who have been moved out of Singapore, BT
understands.

Others in Singapore who lost their jobs include a banker who used to help out with
the real estate investment banking team, as well as an analyst with the equity
research team.

Goldman Sachs' spokeswoman in Hong Kong declined to comment on the job cuts in
Singapore when contacted by BT.

Last week's cuts of 3,200 jobs were part of previously reported plans to slash 10
per cent of the firm's global workforce amid slumping markets.

Goldman Sachs-linked property funds own three office buildings in Singapore - DBS
Building at Shenton Way, as well as Hitachi Tower and Chevron House.

Sentiment in the Singapore property market, particularly offices, has been hit
badly by the global financial crisis and fears of oversupply. In addition, the
Singapore real estate investment trust (S-Reit) sector has also taken a hit
because of the slump in equity markets as well as refinancing fears amid current
tight liquidity. Several planned Reit IPOs have also had to be postponed
indefinitely.

Market watchers noted that two of the office blocks Goldman Sachs funds bought
here (Hitachi Tower and Chevron House) were at near-peak prices while the bank
failed to offload its earlier buy - DBS Building along Shenton Way - in a timely
manner.

It bought DBS Building in late 2005 for $690 million or $789 per square foot (psf)
of net lettable area. Chevron House (formerly Caltex House) at Raffles Place was
purchased for $730 million or $2,780 psf in August last year. The building stands
on a site with a remaining lease of about 81 years at the time of the deal.

Earlier this year, a Goldman fund bought the 999-year leasehold Hitachi Tower at
Collyer Quay for $811 million or about $2,900 psf.