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Friday, March 2, 2012

RM124m financing for LBS upmarket D'Island Residence

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer LBS Bina Group Bhd is borrowing RM124.6 million from Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) to finance its upmarket development in Selangor.

The 70.8-hectare D'Island Residence housing project in Puchong, with gross development value of RM3.6 billion, is expected to be completed by 2020.

LBS managing director Datuk Lim Hock San said the first phase was fully sold out.

"We expect to hand over the houses to owners in six months," he told reporters here yesterday after sealing the loan agreement with MBSB.

The RM125 million loan is to finance the second phase of D'Island Residence, consisting of semi-detached and superlink homes.

The semi-detached homes are priced from RM2.38 million while the three-storey superlink homes will be sold from RM1.7 million.

In its filing to the stock exchange yesterday, LBS said its fourth quarter profits to December 2011 fell 19 per cent to RM9.02 million.

Revenue dipped five per cent to RM143.41 million.

For the full-year, the group's profits more than doubled to RM36.72 million, thanks to progressive sales at D' Island Residence and The Lake Residence in Puchong, Topaz III & IV, Ivory Residences I & II, Indigo Homes, Magenta Homes and Lavender II in Bandar Saujana Putra.

The high profits were mainly driven by the group achieving RM662 million sales last year, 57 per cent more than 2010's RM422 million.

As at December 2011, the group has 20 ongoing projects and unbilled sales of RM649 million.

Lim said LBS is confident of topping RM800 million sales this year as domestic consumption is still growing at a sustained pace.

"There's liquidity in the market. Property sales at select locations are doing well," he said.

By Business Times

Sunway eyes Iskandar expansion

Company aims to more than double its landbank in Medini Iskandar

PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd plans to more than double the size of its landbank in Medini Iskandar, raising it to around 2,000 acres from the already-announced acquisition of around 700 acres, industry sources said.

“The project will be a significant one and Sunway hopes to differentiate itself from other developments in Iskandar with a unique offering, targeting very much the Singapore market,” said one source.

“It will be more innovative than what Sunway has in Malaysia,” the source added.

Another source said there was also a plan for a new road linking the Sunway project in Iskandar to the Second Link in order to give Singaporeans better access to the development.

Sunway hopes to capitalise on its established brand name and its “Singapore connection” through the presence of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) as one of its major shareholders since 1999.

An analyst said he was expecting the Iskandar project to be significant for Sunway's earnings going forward and was awaiting more details on their plans.

Last December, Sunway said it had entered into a joint venture with Khazanah Nasional Bhd to buy 276.4ha of land in Medini that would have an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM12bil.

With the acqusition of the additional land, sources said the GDV of the project would be higher, at more than RM15bil.

The land is in Medini's Zone F, which is strategically located in the heart of Iskandar Malaysia.

It is about 10 minutes from Singapore via the Second Link Expressway and 25 minutes from the Senai International Airport.

The joint venture company, Semerah Cahaya Sdn Bhd, is in the midst of drawing up the masterplan for the project.

Sunway currently holds 38% in the joint venture but will increase it to 60% within 54 months from the date of the lease purchase agreement.

This integrated development project will be named Sunway Iskandar, and the first launch is expected in early 2013.

Sunway is required to pump in an initial equity investment of RM136.8mil, and will subscribe for shares in Semerah Cahaya for RM198mil in four tranches.

The first payment of RM49.5mil a year will start from the 18th month from the date of the lease purchase agreement.

Sunway already has a presence in Iskandar through its construction division which is undertaking three major construction jobs in Iskandar Malaysia, including Legoland, Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios and the Central Utilities Facility at the Bio-XCell biotechnology park.

A research house has highlighted that Sunway is paying less than Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) for the land in Iskandar, but said that did not mean the planned RM12bil development would carry a lower risk given the rising competition among developers in the area.

Also, the report said Sunway might have to tap shareholders for funding at some point in the future to pay for project.

“We believe Sunway has managed to pull a coup, as the location of this land is better than its other competitors at much lower cost,'' Hwang-DBS Vickers research said in a report.

This is Sunway's largest acquisition after the merger of the businesses of two public-listed companies, Sunway Holdings and Sunway City in August which resulted in the merged entity becoming one of the top five property-construction companies listed on Bursa Malaysia.

By The Star

UEMLand may buy more land

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Land Holdings Bhd is exploring more opportunities to increase its landbank in Sabah, Sarawak and the region.

Managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said the company is currently in advance negotiations with the land owners, and expects to seal a deal this year.

Currently, the company owns about 9,000 acres of land, located mainly in the Nusajaya, Johor.

By The Star