CAPITAMALL Trust, the property trust owned by Southeast Asia's largest developer, will increase payouts to investors 24 percent for income earned in the first quarter after raising shopping center rents.

Shareholders will get S$58 million (US$43 million), or 3.48 Singapore cents a share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with S$46.9 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier, the trust said in a statement to the Singapore's stock exchange yesterday. CapitaMall is owned by Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd.

CapitaMall, which boosted its fourth-quarter payout 19 percent, is considering adding to its S$5.9 billion of shopping centers in Singapore to boost rental revenue and returns to investors.

Retail spending may decline this year in the city state, where economic growth is expected to cool to 6 percent after growing 7.7 percent in 2007, after the inflation rate rose to a 26-year high in January, Bloomberg News said.

The trust wants to increase assets in Singapore to S$8 billion by 2010.