Glomac keen to go into land privatisation

Property developer, Glomac Bhd, is keen to participate in government land privatisation and aggressively looking for landbanks especially within the Greater KL area.

Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk FD Iskandar FD
Mansor said Glomac would like to participate if they were given a change, adding that the company is already looking at some parcels (of land).

"We are actively looking for landbanks especially in Greater KL area. We
have a good position and we sit on a sizeable warcrest of about RM370 million," he told reporters after Glomac's annual general meeting today. Glomac currently has 400-hectare landbank.

Iskandar said Glomac was also prepared to look at the opportunities (land
acquisitions) in the event if the market took a turn for the worse, adding that
the opportunities in the property business in Malaysia are still ample.

He said Glomac planned to launch properties worth between RM1.2 billion and
RM1.3 billion in gross development value (GDV) for the current financial year
ending April 2012.

Among the projects are Glomac Damansara, townships in Rawang, Sungai Buloh and Johor Baharu, Glomac Cyberjaya 2 and Mutiara Damansara Residences.

Glomac sold RM418 million worth of properties in financial year 2011 and
achieved some RM100 million worth of sales in the first quarter of financial
year 2012.

Iskandar said sales trend could slow down due to external factors like US
and Europe financial crises. However, demand is still there as strong take-up rate was seen in Glomac's properties.

"Not like 97/98 (Asian financial) crisis...even banks were affected. Today,
banks are so liquid and in strong position. Is just a confidence factor...people
are opting a "wait and see" attitude," he said.

On Glomac's commercial properties, Iskandar said the company was looking at
a possibility of en bloc sales, adding that Glomac was finalising some
agreements and hope to make an annoucement before year-end.

"There is demand for commercial properties. More multinational corporations
are moving out from the central business district to Petaling Jaya, Damansara
and Kelana Jaya," he added.

By Bernama

SP Setia gets takeover offer from Permodalan

SP Setia Bhd, Malaysia’s biggest listed developer by sales, said shareholder Permodalan Nasional Bhd made an offer to take over the company in the country’s largest property acquisition in at least two decades.

Permodalan or PNB, Malaysia’s largest state asset manager, offered RM3.90 apiece for the rest of the shares it doesn’t already own, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd said in an e-mailed statement today.

The all-cash bid values SP Setia at RM6.9 billion. The stock surged 13 per cent to RM3.50 yesterday, the most since 1998, before being suspended from trading today. The offer represents a premium of 21.5 per cent above SP Setia’s five-day volume-weighted average price of RM3.21, said Maybank, which is acting for PNB.

This compares with an average premium of 34 per cent for 17 property deals of more than US$500 million in Southeast Asia in the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “If it’s privatized, it would imply that Permodalan might do some internal consolidation and put all their property assets under one entity,” said Jason Chong, who helps manage about US$1 billion as chief investment officer at Manulife Asset Management (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.

They also need to “ensure that core management is still around.” The offer follows PNB’s 2009 merger of three developers after buying them out. Kuala Lumpur-based SP Setia will give PNB, which manages about RM150 billion of assets, access to projects in Malaysia, Australia and Vietnam.

By Bloomberg

Sunreit takes possession of Putra Place

KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Real Estate Investment Trusts (Sunreit) has finally taken complete physical possession of Putra Place, six months after it winning the bid for the building at an auction.

Sunreit was unable to move in as the previous owner of the assets, Metroplex Holdings Sdn Bhd took legal action to nulify the auction.

Sunreit Management Sdn Bhd's chief executive officer Datuk Jeffrey Ng when contacted by Business Times this morning said there are three parts to the assets.

"We took possession of the office building and mall last night after the court ruling which declared us as the rightful owner and we took possession of the hotel this morning," he said.

Ng added that the most important thing now is the hard work that will go into planned major refurbishment to enhance the property.

An estimated RM100 million to RM200 million will be spent on the asset that was bought for RM513.95 million.

By Business Times

Axis REIT to acquire land in Seberang Perai

PETALING JAYA: Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) has entered into an agreement with Apex Properties Sdn Bhd to acquire single-storey warehouses on leasehold land in Seberang Perai, Penang for RM59 million.

The REIT's manager said in an announcement to the stock exchange that this was part of the REIT's diversification strategy that would benefit from economies of scale.

By The Star