YTL Corp bullish on Sandy Island project

An artist's impression of YTL Corp's Sandy Island waterfront villas

PETALING JAYA: YTL Corp Bhd is upbeat on its high-end Sandy Island property project at Sentosa Cove in Singapore as response has been encouraging despite the global financial crisis, said YTL Singapore Pte Ltd international real estate director Kemmy Tan.

Tan said the YTL group was positive about the outlook of the property market in Asia.

“We believe there will be continued growth in interest for Asian properties as the economic downturn will also bring about opportunities for investors,” she told StarBiz in an e-mail interview.

A subsidiary of YTL Corp, YTL Singapore manages all YTL group’s projects in Singapore.

Apart from Sandy Island, YTL Corp has two other projects in Singapore – the Lakefront on Sentosa Island and the Westwood Apartments on Orchard Boulevard.

To date, YTL has sold three of the 18 luxurious waterfront villas on Sandy Island.

“We have received interest from local and regional buyers as well as those from as far as the US and Europe,” Tan said, noting that the current buyers were Singaporeans and other nationalities.

So far, there were no takers from Malaysia but “we will definitely be prospecting buyers from Malaysia,” she said.

The 99-year leasehold properties at Sentosa Cove have built-up areas ranging from 7,500 to 9,200 sq ft, with a starting price of S$13.9mil.

Tan said the growing base of the affluent in Singapore motivated the YTL group to venture into the luxury property market there.

“Singapore is well positioned as the regional financial hub and its competitive economy has made it an ideal place for investments,” she said.

“It is also becoming a regional base for multinational corporations and the increase in foreign talent has boosted the demand for luxury property.”

She added that the exclusiveness of the Sentosa Cove area made it particularly appealing to potential buyers.

“Only 2,500 homes can be developed there, of which 400 are landed. It is an exclusive marina community and is the only place in Singapore that allows foreigners to own landed property,” she said.

The Sandy Island villas, each with its unique design, come with a large living area and master bedroom, private pool, boat berth by the waterway, garden and private lift.

By The Star (by Eugene Mahalingan)

IGB investing RM2b in China

GEORGETOWN: IGB Corp Bhd, which operates the “Cititel” hotel chain, plans to invest RM2bil over the next five years to develop “tourist-class” hotels in China under a new brand name.

The group, which considers 3- to 4-star hotels as tourist-class, also has plans for such hotels in other regional cities, from Bangkok to Sydney.

Cititel Hotel Management Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Eric Lim told StarBiz the group planned to build about 20,000 tourist-class hotel rooms in the third and fourth-tier cities in China.



“These tourist-class hotels would be called Cititel Super-Express Hotel, a new brand name which we are developing,” he said. “There would be at least 1,000 rooms for each of the Cititel Super-Express Hotel to be developed in China.”

Lim said the move would “enable us to tap into the tourist-class market segment in China,” and that the group had “already identified some of the sites for the hotels.”

Over the next three to four years, the IGB group will also draw up plans for similar hotels to be developed in Bangkok, Jakarta, Vietnam, and Sydney.

“In Sydney, the plan is to develop a four-star hotel under the St Giles hotel brand name.

“In Makati, Manila, we are now building the RM150mil St Giles hotel, which should be ready by March 2010,” Lim said.

In Malaysia, the group plans to develop Cititel Express Hotels in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Penang, and Ipoh over the next three to four years as well.

“The RM55mil Cititel Express in Kota Kinabalu should be ready in July 2009, while the Cititel Express in Penang is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010,” Lim said.

The Kota Kinabalu Cititel Express hotel would have 275 rooms and Penang Cititel 550 rooms, he said.

By The Star (by David Tan)

Malaysian builders plan RM11b China development

HUGE DEAL: Tee(left) and Sui showing the documents of agreement while Zaini(second from left) and Gu look on.

A group of Malaysian builders plans to build commercial and residential properties with development value of up to RM11 billion in Shenyang, China.

The consortium signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shenyang Province authorities in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

A special purpose vehicle, known as Shenyang-Malaysia Development Sdn Bhd (ShenMas), has been formed to undertake the conceptual planning, land acquisition, funding issues and feasibility studies.

The project will take place in the Shenyang Finance and Trade Development Zone (SYFTD).

The proposed development, themed "Modern Islamic Lifestyle", is expected to be completed within five years.

ShenMas executive director Datuk Lim Kim Wah said a definitive agreement was expected to be signed in June next year.

"The project is expected to start by the end of next year. We will form a consortium and Bina Puri will be one of the companies," he told a news conference after the signing between ShenMas and the Administrative Committee of Shenyang Province.

At the signing, ShenMas was represented by its chairman, Senator Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng, and the Shenyang authority, by vice-director of SYFTD administrative committee, Sui Zhong Qing.

The signing was witnessed by the Economic Planning Unit's head of special unit for overseas project, Tan Sri Zaini Omar, and the Chinese embassy's head of mission, Gu Jing Qi.

The project will be developed on a 17.96ha site in one of the most centralised Muslim community living areas in China.

Shenyang is the capital city of Liaoning Province. The province is located south of northeast China, which has about 100,000 Muslims.

Lim, who is the former group chief executive officer (CEO) of Bandar Raya Development Bhd and Magnum Corp Bhd, said that about 30 per cent of the commercial properties will be sold to foreigners and the rest to locals when the development is completed.

Meanwhile, Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM) managing director and CEO Datuk Dr Adnan Alias said he did not expect any problems in financing the project.

He said the project will use syariah-compliant financing. To date, AmInvestment Bank Group and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd have issued letters of support for the project.

IBFIM is the syariah adviser to the proposed development.

The project was made possible because of the close rapport between the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH) and the Shenhe district authority in Shenyang.

In August this year, the KLCAH organised a trip to Shenyang, which was led by Adnan.

The Shenhe authority said it chose the Malaysian group instead of groups from Singapore and Hong Kong which had approached the authority to develop the land because of Malaysia's leadership in the international Islamic finance sector.

By Business Times (by Hamisah Hamid)

UEM Land to raise RM850m

UEM Land Holdings Bhd Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali(left)strikes the gong during the company's listing. Looking on are Managing Director, Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim (right)and Director, Md Ali Md Dewal(far left).-AZMAN GHANI / The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Land Bhd plans to raise RM850mil in bank loans and this would be finalised by March next year.

UEM Land Managing director Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said on Tuesday the RM850mil would be which would be used as working capital to develop Nusajaya.

Speaking to reporters after the listing of the company on the Main Board, he said the company was also looking to undertake a corporate exercise to raise RM400mil.

He expected the borrowings to increase its total debt over equity ratio from 30% now to 60%, which was at par with the industry.

Wan Abdullah added UEM Land was also looking for strategic partners to develop Nusajaya.

UEM Land is the largest landowner in Iskandar Malaysia and it owns 9,564 acres of land in Nusajaya. UEM Land took over the listing status of UEM World Bhd.

By The Star (by KC Lau)

Shenmas to develop RM11b project

KUALA LUMPUR: Shenyang Malaysia Development Sdn Bhd (Shenmas) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Administrative Committee of the Shenyang Finance Development Zone to develop a Muslim community centre cum regional finance centre in Shenyang City, China.

The project, with a gross development value of RM11bil, will start by end 2009 and is expected to be completed within the next five years.

The proposed project is on a mixed basis, comprising both commercial and residential development.

“Shenmas has been given 128 days to undertake a feasibility study with the signing of the MoU.

“I think by June next year everything should be finalised,” said the head of the special unit for overseas projects, Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Zaini Omar.

The land is situated within the Shenyang Finance and Trade Development Zone, in Shennhe District, Shenyang City. It will be divided into two parcels, with the first measuring about 64,319 sq m and the second, about 117,488 sq m.

Meanwhile, Islamic Banking and Financing Institute of Malaysia (IBFIM) managing director/chief executive officer Datuk Dr Adnan Alias said it would discuss with potential financiers, the structure of financing for the project.

So far, IBFIM, the financial advisers for the project, had received letters of support from AmInvestment and CIMB Islamic.

Asked whether there would be any problem securing financing due to the current credit crunch, Adnan said: “We don’t foresee much difficulty in raising the needed finance.”

By Bernama

Singapore mulls requests to open casinos in stages

SINGAPORE: Singapore is "carefully considering" proposals by Las Vegas Sands Corp and Genting International plc to open their casino resorts in the city state in "progressive" stages.

Each of the multibillion-dollar projects must still open as an "integrated resort" rather than a "standalone casino", S. Iswaran, senior minister of state for the Trade Ministry, said in Parliament yesterday.

Las Vegas Sands, battling to avoid bankruptcy, suspended construction of casinos in Macau this month to focus on its Singapore project, Marina Bay Sands, scheduled to open at the end of 2009. The company raised US$2.1 billion last week by selling preferred stock and warrants to help finance development projects.

"The Singapore Tourism Board remains in dialogue with Marina Bay Sands and continues to work with them to facilitate the project's completion," Iswaran said. "It would be fair to say that due to the global financial crisis and the slowdown already evident in our tourism sector, there may be some impact on the integrated resorts' business when they open."

By Bloomberg