Guocoland to launch Damansara City 2 by Q3

GUOCOLAND (Malaysia) Bhd hopes to launch its RM1.9 billion flagship development, known as Damansara City 2, in the third quarter of this year, an official said.

The property arm of the Hong Leong group will build the integrated development in Kuala Lumpur's Pusat Bandar Damansara, over a 2.2 million-sq-ft area.

It will comprise two office blocks, a 300-room hotel, a 260-unit serviced apartment block and a retail centre.

"We hope to launch it, hopefully, in the third quarter. The gross development value is not really firmed up yet, but it could be between RM2 billion to RM2.5 billion. We're selling only the serviced apartments," managing director Yeow Wai Siaw told Business Times yesterday.
He said work on the project could start immediately once all approvals were obtained. He is targeting for the project to be completed in about 30 to 36 months.

The project by Guocoland was first announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday. It was one of 19 projects he unveiled under the government's Economic Transformation Programme.

Guocoland's share price gained 11 sen to RM1.35 in the stock market yesterday.

By Business Times

Low family offers RM305.2m for AP Land

Low Chuan Holdings is offering 45 sen a share for all of AP Land's assets and liabilities in what is likely to be a prelude to the company being taken private

The Low family has offered RM305.2 million to take over the business of Asia Pacific Land Bhd (AP Land), a 50-year old property developer, in what is likely to be a prelude to the company being taken private.

AP Land is famous for building some of Kuala Lumpur's main landmarks like the Empire Tower and City Square shopping centre, which sits at the junction of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ampang.

The group's major shareholder is Low Chuan Holdings Sdn Bhd (LCH) with a 37 per cent stake. LCH is owned by Low Gee Tat@Gene Low, Low Gee Teong, Low Gee Soon, Sem Siong Industries Sdn Bhd, Selangor Holdings Sdn Bhd and Low Chuan Securities Sdn Bhd.

LCH is offering 45 sen a share for all of AP Land's assets and liabilities. The stock closed at 41 sen on Monday as trading was suspended yesterday.

Analysts told Business Times that this is an opportunity for LCH to take AP Land private as its market value is way below its net tangible asset of RM700 million.

"Looking at that situation and with not much assets in AP Land's coffers, it is better to privatise the company. AP Land has not garnered much interest from investors," said one analyst.

AP Land, formerly known as Mount Pleasure Holdings Bhd, was founded in 1961 and is involved in property development and investment.

It operates a golf course and college and has an oil palm plantation in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Its current projects are myHabitat residences in Kuala Lumpur, Bandar Tasik Puteri township in Rawang, Selangor, and Penang Island Bay Resort.

AP Land has launched a commercial development in Changshu City in China and a residential project in Hokkaido, Japan.

By Business Times

Sunway unit wins S’pore land deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Holdings Bhd, via indirect subsidiary Sunway Developments Pte Ltd (SDPL), has been awarded a tender to jointly develop a parcel of land at Yuan Ching Road, Singapore, for a 103-year lease term at S$131.6mil (RM314.91mil).

SDPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunway Holdings, will be jointly developing the land with Hoi Hup Realty Pte Ltd and SC Wong Holdings Pte Ltd.

“Hoi Hup, SDPL and SC Wong Holdings intend to incorporate a joint venture on a 60:30:10 basis to undertake the development of the land,” Sunway Holdings told Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

The tender was awarded by the Housing and Development Board of Singapore, it said.

Hoi Hup, incorporated in Singapore, has a paid-up capital of S$3mil and is involved in real estate development. SC Wong Holdings, which is also incorporated in Singapore, has a paid-up capital of S$15mil and is principally involved in investment holding.

“The completion period of the proposed project shall be 48 months or earlier, commencing from January 10, 2011 and would contribute positively to the earnings of Sunway Group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2012 onwards,” Sunway Holdings said.

In a separate statement, Sunway Holdings said SunCon had secured a banking facility amounting to US$15mil (RM46.35mil) for the issuance of tender bonds, performance bonds and advance payment bonds for current contracts and future contracts to be secured by the latter.

SunCon is principally involved in turnkey, construction related design and build, civil engineering and building works.

By The Star

SPAD plans to gain from property projects

PUTRAJAYA: Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) is looking into the possibility of property development adjacent to the country's upcoming mass rapid transit (MRT) lines to partly service the debt for the construction of the MRT.

According to its chief executive officer Nur Ismal Kamal, the value generated from this property play along the rail line could be used to partly pay for the construction of the MRT.

“It is proven in Hong Kong where the already high property prices there escalated even more after the construction of its MRT.

“Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd will be in charge of creating this company to manage property and commercial development around our MRT assets.

“We have recently visited Hong Kong specifically to learn from MTR Corp Ltd in relation to the MRT and property play aspects. We have also formed a working relationship with Singapore's MRT operator in the effort to adopt the best practices of the industry,” he told reporters after the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) update by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The update on ETP saw 19 new developments worth RM167bil with major investments in oil and gas as well as energy, property development, business services and healthcare.

Property development in this update includes investment in the hospitality sector of RM1bil by Teluk Datai Resort Sdn Bhd and RM75mil by YTL Group as well as RM1.9bil in integrated development in Pusat Bandar Damansara by Goucoland Bhd.

SPAD, the supervising and coordinating agency of the country's first MRT project is expected to start the construction of the first MRT line from Sungai Buloh to Kajang in July.

The Sungai Buloh-Kajang line is estimated to be 55km to 60km in length.

It was reported that MTR Corp, that was established in 1975, has developed 27 rail stations, 74,165 residential units and more than 1.7 million sq metres of commercial areas.

Nur Ismal said the call for tender for some of the preliminary and main works of the MRT would start at the end of April and awarding would commence in the middle of May.

“We are still in discussion whether to award all the projects to the contractors before July or progressively as the works start.

“But, the tunnelling works (of which the project deliver partner MMC Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd joint-venture is allowed to put in their bid) will be decided before July,” he said.

In terms of construction cost of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line, Nur Ismal said, it was hard to estimate at this point of time.

“We will have the final cost of this first line when we completely finalised the alignment after taking into consideration the response from the public, done the value management studies and engineering aspects,” he said.

The total estimated value of the three MRT lines is RM36.6bil.

On the development of the other two MRT lines as initially proposed by MMC-Gamuda JV, Nur Ismal said if any, the second and third lines would be announced in late March or early April after the completion of the Urban Rail Development Plan.

“By then, we can share on how the whole network would look like and where the construction of the next MRT line will be. It would all depend on its priority,” he said.

Asked whether this MRT is a profit-oriented project, Nur Ismal said this MRT project had many facets such as to reduce heavy traffic on the road, to support the development of other entry point projects such as the Warisan Merdeka and the KL International Financial District.

He said usually as in other MRT projects, the Government would bear the construction cost but the project must have the return for the maintenance of its asset and service to the public.

By The Star