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Keppel Ltd. (Keppel) has released its voluntary business update for 1Q 2025, reporting a year-on-year (yoy) increase of more than 25% in net profit, excluding legacy O&M assets[1], driven by strong and steady performance in the Infrastructure segment, higher contributions from the Real Estate segment, and stronger performance in Asset Management, which included a full quarter of contributions from Aermont Capital. Recurring income, comprising profits from asset management and operations, made up more than 80% of Keppel’s 1Q 2025 net profit, excluding the legacy O&M assets.
Including the legacy O&M assets, net profit for 1Q 2025 more than doubled yoy, due mainly to lower losses from these legacy assets.
Notwithstanding challenging market conditions, Keppel announced the monetisation of about $347 million in assets in the year to date (YTD), mostly from the divestments of real estate assets in China and Vietnam. This brings its cumulative asset monetisation since October 2020 to about $7.2 billion, not including the divestment of Keppel Offshore & Marine (KOM), which would have added another $4.7 billion[4].
Keppel is in advanced stages of negotiating another approximately $550 million in real estate monetisation opportunities expected to be finalised in the next few months.
With the termination of the segregated account agreement related to contingent liabilities from the KOM and former Sembcorp Marine combination, about $291 million in cash and 63.36 million Seatrium shares from the account have been released to Keppel[5]. The Company is assessing its options to extract value from the remaining Seatrium shares.
Mr Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel, said, “Keppel has had a strong start to 2025, with earnings improving meaningfully driven by stronger recurring income, and disciplined execution across our platforms and divisions. Our flagship funds are gaining traction, collectively raising about $4.9 billion of FUM, bringing us closer to our FUM targets. We are also making steady headway in asset monetisation despite the challenging environment.”
On the impact of the US tariffs, Mr Loh said, “The direct impact of the US tariffs on Keppel is expected to be limited, as Keppel is not engaged in the manufacturing or export sectors. However, a trade war would be highly detrimental to the international economy, and could affect us indirectly through higher supply chain costs, reduced market confidence, exchange rate risks and the pace of asset monetisation. Nevertheless, we believe that the New Keppel, with stronger recurring income, would be better placed to navigate the volatility.”
Fund Management and Investment
In the first three months of 2025, Keppel generated $96 million in asset management fees[2], 9% higher yoy. On the back of stronger fundraising momentum, the Company raised about $1.6 billion in equity in the year to date, about 3.5x higher yoy compared to $436 million[6].
On 21 April 2025, the Company announced the successful first closings for Keppel Data Centre Fund III (KDCF III) and Keppel Education Asset Fund II, and the securing of a significant capital commitment for its Sustainable Urban Renewal (SUR) strategy. Including another $400 million raised for the KDCF III in late 2024, the total capital commitments secured for Keppel’s new private funds amount to $2.0 billion, representing approximately $4.9 billion in FUM[3].
In the year to date, Keppel has completed about $2.7 billion in acquisitions and divestments, more than doubling the $1.1 billion in the same period last year[7].
Segmental Highlights
The Infrastructure Segment continued to deliver strong and steady performance yoy. As at end-March 2025, the 600 MW hydrogen-ready Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant reached commissioning readiness, and is on track to start operations in 1H 2026. During the quarter, the Company seeded a 39% stake in the 1.3 GW Keppel Merlimau Cogen Plant to the Keppel Core Infrastructure Fund, demonstrating Keppel’s ability to create value for its private funds and listed trust, while continuing to earn recurring income from asset management and operations and maintenance. About 66% of Keppel’s contracted power generation capacity[8] was locked in for three years and above as at end-March 2025.
As at end-March 2025, long-term contract revenues from providing technology solutions and operations and maintenance services grew 31% yoy, reaching $6.3 billion. These long-term contracts are expected to contribute more than $100 million in annual EBITDA from 2025, augmenting the robust cash flow from the integrated power business.
The Real Estate Segment completed the construction and attained the Temporary Occupation Permit for Keppel South Central. It also secured a leading financial services group as the building’s first anchor tenant.
In the Connectivity space, Keppel continued to make good progress on the Bifrost Cable System, on track to be ready for service in 2H 2025, with cable laying operations 92% completed as at end-March 2025. During the quarter, Keppel Infrastructure Fund and Keppel Infrastructure Trust acquired a majority stake in Global Marine Group, a leading subsea cable solutions provider, bolstering Keppel’s digital infrastructure strategy and strengthening its position as a connectivity ecosystem partner. Meanwhile, M1 registered a higher EBITDA yoy in 1Q 2025 and is on track to complete the decommissioning of its legacy technology stack in 2025.
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About Keppel Ltd.
Keppel Ltd. (SGX:BN4) is a global asset manager and operator with strong expertise in sustainability-related solutions spanning the areas of infrastructure, real estate and connectivity. Headquartered in Singapore, Keppel operates in more than 20 countries worldwide, providing critical infrastructure and services for renewables, clean energy, decarbonisation, sustainable urban renewal and digital connectivity. Keppel creates value for investors and stakeholders through its quality investment platforms and diverse asset portfolios, including private funds and listed real estate and business trusts.
Unless explicitly indicated otherwise, all monetary values denoted as ‘$’ within this media release are to be interpreted as referring to Singapore dollars.
[1] Legacy offshore and marine (O&M) assets comprise Seatrium shares, the legacy rigs, Floatel, KrisEnergy and Dyna-Mac (which was divested in 2024).
[2] Includes 100% fees from subsidiary managers, joint ventures and associated entities, annualised fees for platform/asset acquired during the year, as well as share of fees based on shareholding stake in associate with which Keppel has strategic alliance. Also includes asset management, transaction and advisory fees on sponsor stakes and co-investments.
[3] Gross asset value of investments and uninvested capital commitments on a leveraged basis is used to project fully invested FUM.
[4] This includes the Sembcorp Marine (now Seatrium) shares, which were distributed or held in the segregated account, at $2.30 per share (or $0.115 per share prior to the share consolidation undertaken by Seatrium in 2023; $0.115 was the last traded price of the shares on the first market day immediately following the date of the combination) and the $0.5 billion cash component.
[5] Figures were as at 31 March 2025.
[6] Equity raised excludes that of Aermont Capital.
[7] Acquisitions and divestments exclude those of Aermont Capital.
[8] Based on Keppel’s existing generation capacity.
