Magna Prima plans RM1b project

EARNINGS BOOST: Lim at the launch of the company’s latest project in Selangor, U1 Shah Alam.

PROPERTY developer Magna Prima Bhd will launch a RM1.1 billion project in Kuala Lumpur by July, which will boost its earnings significantly next year.

The yet-to-be-named project will be located on a 4.12ha site at Jalan Kuching, said chief executive officer Lim Ching Choy.

"We expect good sales contributing positively to earnings. Our other projects like the six-star Avare condominium at KLCC and Dataran Otomobil township in Shah Alam have garnered us with good returns," Lim told Business Times at the launch of its latest project in Selangor, dubbed U1 Shah Alam, yesterday.

The new project will have two high-rise serviced apartment blocks, a hotel, a retail mall, 200 units of offices and 20 units of three-storey shops.

For the year to December 31 2007, it posted a higher net profit of RM26.9 million compared with RM93,000 in 2006, largely due to sales from Avare and Dataran Otomobil.

Magna Prima plans to sell the Jalan Kuching properties, which will be completed by mid-2011, and retain the mall for rental income.

Meanwhile, Magna Prima is building U1 Shah Alam, a residential and commercial development, for RM135 million.

It will comprise a twin 16-floor tower with a combined 378 apartment units, 13 retail outlets at ground level, a six-storey carpark, and an adjacent 15-storey office tower.

Magna Prima is looking for a buyer for the office tower which is worth RM45 million.

"We have started to market the product as we are keen on an en-bloc deal," said Lim, adding that it has yet to receive offers for the property.

The selling point for U1 Shah Alam is the location with easy access points and its convenience where tenants could also work and shop there.

The apartments are either two-plus-one bedroom units or three bedrooms, with sizes ranging from 980 sq ft to 1,100 sq ft, priced from RM200,000.

The office suites range from 1,057 sq ft to 1,348 sq ft with prices starting from RM350,000 each.

"Block A of the apartment tower was sold out one week after the soft launch on Monday. As for Block B, we have sold up to 40 per cent and expect to sell the rest within a month," Lim said.

By New Straits Times (by Sharen Kaur)