Keppel Corp. Ltd.'s Keppel Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. agreed to purchase a 50% interest in Keppel-KBS US REIT Management Pte. Ltd. for a total sum of US$27.5 million.

Keppel-KBS US REIT Management is the proposed manager of Keppel-KBS US REIT, the U.S. commercial real estate investment trust Keppel Corp. plans to list in Singapore, which will be sponsored by Keppel Capital and KBS Pacific Advisors Pte. Ltd.

Additionally, Keppel Corp. announced it has received an eligibility-to-list letter from the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. Oct. 6 for the proposed IPO and listing of the REIT. Keppel Corp. said the planned listing remains subject to market conditions, regulatory and other approvals, among other things, and that no decision has been made as to whether the listing will take place.

Keppel Corp. does not expect the acquisition of the interest to have any material impact on its earnings per share or net tangible assets per share for the current financial year.