UEM Land targets more foreign joint venture deals

The merger of UEM Land and Sunrise Bhd in early 2011 had provided a much-needed boost to the company, which now has property developments in Canada and management projects in Singapore.

UEM Land Holdings Bhd hopes to seal joint venture (JV) deals with major property developers in India, Vietnam and Myanmar by year-end, as part of its aspiration to become a global property player by 2015.

Managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said the company is now in discussions with the developers.

"It will be good if we can ink a deal with each party by year-end. Our aim is to have a strong regional presence," he said yesterday.

Wan Abdullah said UEM Land, which is the property development arm of state-owned Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has big targets as it approaches 2015 and 2016.

By then, it hopes to achieve a much higher revenue and net profit, with more land in its pocket, he said at the MIDF Investment luncheon talk. Also present were UEM Group Bhd MD and CEO Datuk Izzaddin Idris and MIDF group MD Datuk Mohd Najib Abdullah.

The acquisition of Sunrise had increased UEM Land's landbank in prime areas of central Kuala Lumpur, Mont Kiara and Seri Kembangan.

For the financial year ended December 31 2011, UEM Land posted a net profit of RM301.7 million on revenue of RM1.7 billion, up 55.1 per cent and 261.5 per cent, respectively, from 2010 financial year.

UEM Land's headline KPIs (key performance indicator) for 2012 is to launch RM4.5 billion worth of projects and achieve property sales of RM3 billion.

"We are looking at net profit growth of 40 per cent, and return of equity of 10 per cent. By 2015, you can imagine the numbers we are targeting," Wan Abdullah said.

UEM Land's current projects include East Ledang and Puteri Harbour in Nusajaya, Johor; Symphony Hills in Cyberjaya; 28 Mont Kiara, Arcoris Mont Kiara, Angkasa Raya and Summer Suites in Kuala Lumpur; and Quintet in Richmond, Canada.

Its partners for some of the developments are Bandar Raya Development Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, UM Land Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, MCL Land and Emkay Group.

Wan Abdullah also said that UEM Land is looking for more strategic partners to undertake land development in Nusajaya, especially at the Southern Industrial & Logistics cluster to up the ante.

By Business Times