Vincent Tan drives RM2.7b plan touted to change JB skyline.

A large tract of land along Lido beach in Johor Baru facing Singapore has been privatised and will help Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan Chee Yioun form the nucleus of a RM2.7 billion (S$1.1 billion) integrated residential-cum-commercial Boulevard City.

The 122 acre development, which was launched by Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman last night, is to be undertaken by a joint venture headed by Central Malaysian Properties (CMP), a private company owned by Mr Tan and his partner, lawyer-businessman Chan Tien Ghee.

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It is now seeking to merge the property company into the main group.

Eastern & Oriental, the group which takes its name from its historic hotel in Penang, is making its second attempt in two years to delist its 63 per cent real estate unit E&O Property from the Malaysian stock exchange.

This time around, E&O is seeking to merge the property company into the main group.

E&O has proposed, through a members scheme of arrangement under the Companies Act, to issue new shares in E&O to E&O Prop minorities at a share swap ratio of 1,100 new E&O shares for every 1,000 E&O Prop shares held.

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But funding, more than environmental concerns, could determine its fate.

It could possibly be the largest single urban development in Malaysia. But disquiet is mounting over the mammoth RM20 billion (S$8.6 billion) project in Penang amid fears that it would make the north-eastern island less livable and give rise to environmental, traffic, and property oversupply problems.

Mr Lim: ‘The project is so attractive that it will fund itself.’

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The Ascott Group is adding another serviced residence in Kuala Lumpur - its sixth property in Malaysia.

The group said yesterday it has signed a conditional agreement to buy a 208-unit serviced residence from HSC Properties (HSCP) for RM112.5 million (S$48.3 million).

The property will be named Somerset Ampang when it opens in the first half of 2010.

Somerset Ampang is in Kuala Lumpur’s ‘Golden Triangle’ - the business, shopping and entertainment district marked by Jalan Ampang, Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Bukit Bintang.

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Over RM6b invested in past two years in Klang Valley, IDR and Penang projects.

More than RM6 billion (S$2.58 billion) from the Middle East has been invested in Malaysian property in the past two years - and more is set to follow. Analysts say that Islamic funds will continue to flow into Malaysia’s property sector, drawn by the country’s reasonable economic growth, the strengthening ringgit and low capital values.

RHB Islamic Bank chairman Vaseehar Hassan believes that most of the money will go into property and infrastructure projects slated for implementation under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

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(KUALA LUMPUR) Plantation group IOI Corp Bhd registered a higher pre-tax profit of RM628.3 million (S$270.4 million) in the first quarter ended Sept 30, compared with RM338.7 million in the same period last year. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, IOI said that the increase was attributable to better performance from all its major business segments.

Group revenue for the quarter rose 64 per cent to RM3.123 billion from RM1.903 billion previously. ‘The increase was due to higher palm oil prices, increase in volume for resource-based manufacturing as well as higher sales of properties,’ it said. IOI said that its plantation earnings rose by 134 per cent to RM397.5 million, boosted by significantly higher crude palm oil prices.

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Group to sell 15 high-end bungalows at RM30 million each next year.

(KUALA LUMPUR) Property developer SP Setia Bhd, which currently has 2,160 hectares of undeveloped landbank worth RM30 billion (S$13 billion) in gross development value (GDV), plans to focus on luxury and commercial development projects.

Mr Liew: SP Setia has joined forces with Vietnam’s top state-owned group on a residential project

Its group managing director and chief executive officer, Liew Kee Sin, said the company was now shifting from being a purely residential developer to a full-range developer.

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Oil-and-gas sector likely to gain most from development of eastern corridor.

Oil-and-gas stocks rallied yesterday after the launch of an economic corridor in Malaysia’s east coast states on expectations that the industry would benefit the most from the RM112 billion (S$49.5 billion) earmarked for the region.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECER) yesterday, promising to re-engineer growth in the poorer rural areas by focusing on agriculture, technology and tourism to create jobs in the region and to bring income levels closer to the national average.

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A US$200 million real estate investment trust (Reit) of regional malls by Malaysia’s Amanah Raya and Indonesia’s Gapura Prima Group is likely to list on the Singapore Exchange in the first quarter of 2008, rather than by year-end.

Amanah Raya director Ahmad Kamal Abdullah Al-Yafii says Macquarie has been hired to look into listing the Reit.

Initial properties to be injected include five in Indonesia and one or two Malaysian malls, with assets in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines to be added later.

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(KUALA LUMPUR) Tower Real Estate Investment Trust (Tower REIT) plans to sell two of its three commercial properties in Kuala Lumpur, which could provide a gain equivalent to about a year in rental income, says a report in Malaysia’s Business Times.

The properties held by Tower REIT are Menara HLA on Jalan Kia Peng, HP Towers in Bukit Damansara and Menara ING on Jalan Raja Chulan.

One source who identified Menara HLA and HP Tower as the two properties to be sold said that a foreign investor is likely to emerge as the new owner.

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