SP Setia joins Sime Darby in Battersea bid

Sime Darby Bhd said it joined Malaysian developer SP Setia Bhd’s bid for London’s Battersea Power Station, Europe’s largest brick building.

“The consortium is positive that its plan for a mixed sustainable development will be well received,” Kuala Lumpur- based Sime Darby said in an e-mailed statement today.

The derelict 38-acre (15-hectare) site on the south bank of the River Thames was put on sale in February after its owners failed to pay lenders owed more than 500 million pounds ($770 million). At least 10 offers were made to buy the site, including one from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea Football Club Ltd., a person familiar with the matter said last month.

SP Setia is one of three remaining bidders for the landmark power station, Chief Executive Officer Liew Kee Sin said May 29. The defunct station, featured on the cover of the 1977 Pink Floyd album “Animals,” is about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) from the Houses of Parliament and has been vacant for almost three decades.

Sime Darby is the country’s largest publicly quoted plantations group, while SP Setia is the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest listed property developer by sales.

The Employees Provident Fund, Malaysia’s biggest pension fund, has been approached to join the bid, though hasn’t made a commitment, Nik Affendi Jaafar, general manager for public relations said by phone today.

Planning permission was granted to Real Estate Opportunities Plc, controlled by Irish developer Treasury Holdings Ltd., last year for a 5.5 billion-pound redevelopment of the station. SP Setia tried to buy the debt related to the power station in November for 262 million pounds and the offer was rejected.

By Bloomberg