Mah Sing secures another RM560m en bloc sales

KUALA LUMPUR: Mah Sing Group Bhd has secured a RM560.6 million double coup with en bloc sales of The Icon Jalan Tun Razak (East Wing) and The Icon Mont’ Kiara to a joint venture (JV) between Kuwait Finance House KSC (KFH) and Autron Corporation Ltd.

These are the second and third en-bloc sale within four months for Mah Sing group as it had earlier sealed a RM174.4 million deal with Koperasi Permodalan Felda for the sale of The Icon Jalan Tun Razak (West Wing) in July.

“With these deals in hand, the group’s commercial en-bloc sales are valued at RM734.9 million,” Mah Sing said in a statement yesterday.

The company said the group’s unbilled sales as at Sept 30, 2007 were RM517 million and together with the latest two en-bloc sales, it now had unbilled sales of over RM1 billion.

The latest sales were conducted by its wholly owned subsidiaries Star Residence Sdn Bhd and Maxim Heights Sdn Bhd to the JV company, Prompt Symphony Sdn Bhd, a special purpose vehicle formed by KFH and an Autron unit.

Pursuant to their JV agreement, KFH and Autron will subscribe up to 80% and 20% of Prompt Symphony, respectively.

KFH is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, while Autron is listed on the stock exchanges of Singapore and Australia.

Mah Sing’s group managing director Datuk Seri Leong Hoy Kum said all three en-bloc commercial sales were concluded about one year from the group acquiring the land from the vendors and were in line with the group’s model of having a quick turnaround in order to achieve a high return on equity.

The group acquired the land for The Icon Jalan Tun Razak in October 2006 and The Icon Mont’ Kiara in February 2007.

Leong said the en-bloc sale was an endorsement of the company and a stamp of approval for the group’s achievements in property development.

“In view of our branding and track record of on-time delivery, investors also have confidence in the future potential and prospects that we offer in developing high value, high quality projects in strategic growth areas,” he said.

Leong said with interest in the commercial-retail segment stronger than ever, the group was well positioned to capitalise on the country’s strong commercial-retail prospects towards enhancing its earnings stream.

The company’s next two commercial developments, namely Southgate Commercial Centre in Kuala Lumpur and Southbay City in Penang, would be launched next year, with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM1.17 billion.

Leong said the group might also look at en bloc sales of these two development projects.

By The EDGE MALAYSIA