50 per cent stake in retail portion of Malacca Centre in Raffles Place also transacted

INVESTMENT sales of property have been gathering momentum in the private sector, with several deals inked recently.

They include the Park Regis hotel at New Market Street/Merchant Road near the Singapore River, which is said to have been sold for $218 million to Indonesian mining magnate Yusuf Merukh.

Separately, a 50 per cent stake each in the retail portion of Malacca Centre in the Raffles Place area and three shop units at Coronation Plaza have been sold to a single buyer in a deal valuing the assets at about $40 million. BT understands that the deal involves a yield guarantee.

Over at Robinson Road, Chow House is believed to have been sold for slightly over $100 million. The price for the six-storey freehold office block, which has redevelopment potential, is said to work out to about $1,200 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) assuming it is redeveloped into a new office block.

If redeveloped into apartments, the unit land price is closer to $1,300 psf ppr. The site has a land area of 9,084 sq ft and is currently zoned for commercial use with an 11.2+ plot ratio under Master Plan 2008.

Outline planning permission has also been granted to redevelop the property into residential use with commercial use on the first storey.

Chow House is understood to have been bought by a group whose shareholders include entrepreneur YY Wong, founder of the WyWy Group. It is one of nine properties put up for sale by liquidator Tam Chee Chong of Deloitte & Touche, as part of the resolution of a family dispute. The other properties are mostly shophouses. DTZ marketed the properties.

Over in the Singapore River area, Park Regis hotel is being sold just ahead of its scheduled opening next month. The $218 million deal involves the 203-room, four-star hotel and a seven-storey office block comprising about 42,000 sq ft of net lettable space.

A market watcher suggested that the hotel component alone could be valued at about $730,000 per room or $148 million. The asset is being sold by an entity controlled by Asok Kumar Hiranandani of Royal Brothers Group who developed the property on a 99-year leasehold site clinched at a state tender in October 2007.

While Mr Hiranandani is selling his stake in the hotel, Australian-based StayWell Hospitality Group, in which he also has an interest, will continue to manage it, as originally planned.

In an interview with BT in June, Mr Hiranandandi put the total investment in the property at about $175 million.

Separately, RB Capital, controlled by Mr Hiranandani’s nephew Kishin, is said to have sold a half stake in two retail assets for a total of about $40 million recently.

They are: the retail podium of Malacca Centre comprising close to 5,300 sq ft spread over basement 1, ground and mezzanine levels; and three shop units with a total strata area of about 6,300 sq ft at Coronation Plaza in Bukit Timah. The buyer is a Singapore private investor who has been given a three-year rental guarantee. Malacca Centre has 999-year leasehold tenure while Coronation Plaza is freehold.

Source : Business Times – 3 Aug 2010


Sat, Aug 07, 2010
The Business Times

Nine Chow family properties sold for $175m

Chow House: The freehold project went for more than $100 million and could be redeveloped into a residential project. Chow House, the most prominent of the nine assets, went for morethan $100 million and could be redeveloped into a residential project. The nine assets wereowned by Associated Development Pte Ltd, Chow Cho Poon (Pte) Ltd andLee Tung Company (Pte) Ltd. Property investor Chow Cho Poon set upthese firms and his three sons became directors and shareholders.