CapitaLand Investment said fee-related revenue rose 15% to S$1.04 billion in the first nine months of 2026, but total revenue slipped 3% to S$1.5 billion as income from properties it owns fell after a string of asset sales.

The business update, released on the morning of Nov. 4, is the clearest read yet on whether the Singapore-listed manager can grow while it shrinks its balance sheet. For investors in Asia who hold its shares or the REITs it sponsors, the answer so far is mixed: the fund-management engine is growing, but not yet fast enough to offset the shrinking property book, so the group's headline revenue is still going backward.

Revenue from the real estate investment business fell 23% to S$580 million from S$753 million a year earlier, according to The Business Times. The company pointed to the absence of contributions from divested or deconsolidated assets, including Synergy and Dalian IT Park, partly offset by sales of development units at One iPark. The two business lines add up to more than the group total because CLI's revenue breakdown also carries a separate, negative line for corporate and other items, as its 3Q 2025 update showed.

CapitaLand Investment's fee engine

Every fee line grew. Listed funds management revenue rose 30% to S$336 million, helped by higher recurring fees and more event-driven fees. Private funds management revenue climbed 32% to S$133 million on a larger credit business, contributions from SC Capital Partners and higher performance fees.

The two operating businesses grew more slowly. Commercial management revenue rose 8% to S$304 million on leasing gains, while lodging management edged up 1% to S$262 million.

Deal flow was the bigger story. Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 3, CLI raised about S$4.3 billion of equity across its listed and private funds, deployed about S$9.6 billion and divested S$5.7 billion of assets. Transactions in its listed funds more than doubled from a year earlier to S$10.7 billion, made up of S$7.2 billion of purchases and S$3.5 billion of sales. Private fundraising was roughly flat at about S$2 billion, against S$2.1 billion in the same period of 2025.

New products included a third Asia-Pacific real estate credit fund, ACP III, and a student housing platform in Hong Kong seeded with a conversion project in Sheung Wan that will provide about 1,200 beds.

The pattern resembles the one at Keppel, which last week reported that asset sales had beaten its full-year target while its core earnings grew. Both Singapore groups are asking investors to value them on recurring fees rather than on the property and assets they hold.

China REIT listing slips to year-end

CLI now aims to list its second China commercial REIT, CapitaLand Commercial C-Reit, by the end of 2026, subject to market conditions. It had previously expected the listing in the second or third quarter. The vehicle received regulatory registration approval in June and will be seeded with Raffles City Shenzhen and CapitaMall Fucheng in Sichuan province, which together carry an appraised value of about 4.8 billion yuan (US$719 million). The proposed fundraising is close to 3.9 billion yuan.

The listing is one of the main exits for CLI's China property, which it holds in a unit it calls China AssetCo. The group said it would keep selling those assets through onshore REITs, private REITs, renminbi funds and third-party sales, and is studying longer-term options for the unit. It also launched the 1.2 billion yuan China Rental Housing Fund I, the third sub-fund in its RMB Master Fund series.

The China plan sits inside a broader clean-up. In August, CLI said it had earmarked up to S$9 billion of non-core and legacy assets for capital recycling, and would pare what it called excess holdings in some of its larger REITs, including CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT. Group Chief Executive Lee Chee Koon said at the time that much of the balance sheet still consisted of joint-venture and development funds created "when CapitaLand was still a developer."

Balance sheet and next steps

Leverage rose slightly as the group kept investing. Net debt to equity stood at 0.46 times at the end of September, up from 0.43 times at the end of 2025, while the implied borrowing cost fell to 3.5% a year from 3.9%. Operating cash flow for the nine months rose to S$721 million from S$646 million.

The update did not include a profit figure. Its shares closed flat at S$2.38 on Nov. 3, before the release.

Board changes come next. Hsieh Fu Hua, who has held senior roles at Singapore Exchange, Temasek and UOB and became deputy chairman in August, takes over as independent chairman on Jan. 1, 2027, succeeding Miguel Ko, who retires on Dec. 31. By then, investors will know whether the CapitaLand Commercial C-Reit made its year-end listing target.