Titijaya sells DHL-leased Bayan Lepas hub to PHB for RM300m

Titijaya Land Bhd has agreed to sell Penang Logistics Hub 5, the warehouse it built for DHL in Bayan Lepas, to Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) for about RM300 million cash. The conditional agreement was signed on 28 October 2026. This is a sale of the property itself: the land and building pass to PHB. The land is registered to Titijaya's subsidiary City Meridian Development Sdn Bhd, and another subsidiary, Aman Duta Sdn Bhd, is the beneficial owner. Completion is expected in the first half of 2027.

The property

• Address: No. 2, Persiaran Bayan Lepas, in the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone
• Title: H.S.(D) 26408, Lot 72885, Mukim 12, Barat Daya. Leasehold until 2 April 2095, about 68 years left
• Land: 28,562.8 sq m, or 7.06 acres
• Building: a three-storey logistics complex of about 300,726 sq ft gross floor area. The price will be adjusted to the final measured area
• Tenant: DHL Properties (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, on a 10-year tenancy to 14 October 2034 with stepped rent increases. DHL Supply Chain opened the hub in February 2025 for a multinational technology client, with €12 million of robotic automation

The deal

• Payment: a RM30 million deposit, released when the deal turns unconditional. Then RM246 million within 90 days, from which Maybank Islamic's loan on the property is repaid. PHB holds back RM24 million until defects are fixed and DHL's tenancy is transferred to it
• Conditions, due within 90 days: state consent to the transfer, a novation agreement with DHL, and a surveyor's final floor-area report
• Titijaya's liabilities: a defects indemnity capped at RM8.4 million, and RM30 million in damages if it defaults
• For Titijaya: a gain of about RM143 million over the RM156 million book value. Gearing falls from 0.18 to 0.06 times. No shareholder vote is needed
• The buyer: PHB is owned by Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra and invests for the Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera unit trust fund. It said logistics now makes up about 11% of its investment property portfolio. In July 2025 it paid RM247 million for a building let to Schott in Kulim Hi-Tech Park and a Maersk warehouse in the Port of Tanjung Pelepas

How the site got here

In May 2014 Titijaya agreed to buy a 20.42-acre lot beside the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway from Titijaya Group Sdn Bhd for RM126 million, paid in full in September 2016. That year, 2.48 acres went to the expressway. The rest became the 7.06-acre hub plot and a 10.88-acre plot kept for a planned mixed commercial project.

Titijaya and DHL agreed on the hub in March 2022. Under the June 2022 build-and-let agreement, Aman Duta would spend about RM200 million, and 10 years of rent was put at RM160 million to RM210 million. On 28 November 2023, a collapse at the site killed three workers and the city council stopped work. DHL opened the hub in February 2025, later than the 2023 target.

The numbers

• Per sq ft of floor area: RM300 million ÷ 300,726 sq ft ≈ RM998 psf
• Per sq ft of land: RM300 million ÷ 307,447 sq ft ≈ RM976 psf, a blunt figure because it includes a new building
• Gross yield: MARC Ratings said in September 2025 that Titijaya expected about RM18.5 million a year from the lease, about 6.2% on RM300 million. The 2022 rent estimate works out to 5.3% to 7.0%
• Land cost: RM126 million for the 20.42-acre lot is about RM142 psf
• Nearby: Hektar REIT paid RM30 million, or RM364 psf of land, for a factory in the same zone at a 7.5% initial yield (our report)

Titijaya keeps the 10.88-acre plot next door. In July 2023 it also agreed with the Penang Development Corporation to reclaim 20.8 acres next to the site, in return for 8.551 acres of the new land.