Iskandar to offer RM1b worth of contracts

Iskandar Investment Bhd, which oversees a special development zone in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor, will offer RM1 billion worth of contracts for retail outlets, hotels and office space by the end of this year, an executive said.

Financing will come “substantially” from equity from partners Chief Executive Officer Arlida Ariff said in an interview today. The rest would be through bank borrowings, she said.

Malaysia’s government launched the Iskandar development in November 2006 with the hope of attracting 382 billion ringgit of investment into the area in two decades.

State-controlled Iskandar Investment will tender out another six packages of contracts worth 250 million by the end of this month for the construction of schools, a stadium and initial administrative buildings for a Legoland theme park, Arlida said.

Iskandar Investment has seen a “marked increase” in interest from foreign investors from Southeast Asia as the global economy recovers, Arlida said. In particular, there was been growing interest out of neighboring Singapore, she said.

“For the balance of this year, we will be going out quite aggressively into the region, focusing mainly on Asia,” said Arlida. “We will be travelling to China, South Korea and possibly Indonesia in the next three months” to attract investors and speak to people who’ve shown interest in the past, she said.

By Bloomberg