KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd is confident that the recently completed Southgate project in Sungei Besi here will be a success and the group plans to replicate the model elsewhere.

Mah Sing Properties Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Andy Chua feels that there are at least two other other locations where the Southgate model can be duplicated – in Johor and Penang.

Chua, however, said they must be in the right location.

Southgate, a development project on 1.93ha with RM466 million gross development value, comprises office-cum-retail building. All units have been sold.

The project, comprises two main blocks – Apex and the Corporate Building – and three other blocks named Vox, Vivo and Vertex. Together, they offer 600,000 sq ft of net lettable area.

The eight-storey main block has three storeys of retail space and is owned by Kooperasi Permodalan Felda Bhd.

Felda bought this block for RM226 million and has leased it back to Mah Sing’s unit. For the first two years, Felda will receive a guaranteed 8 per cent monthly rental based on the purchase price. Thus far, 60 per cent of the main block has been leased.

Total retail leasable area is 200,000 sq ft in Southgate, of which 40 per cent is yet to be rented out.

Chua expects the retail portion to be 90 per cent tenanted within a year’s time. The average rental for the retail portion on the ground floor is RM10 per sq ft, including service charge.

“This is not a conventional mall. It is more like street mall, where it is about al fresco dining where one can have a stroll. It is a covered area, but sunlight can come in,” he told Business Times in an interview.

The tenants are predominantly from food and beverage business, he added. Its retail tenants include Nichi Fashion, Georgeous, OverTime, Papa King and Sushi King.

Southgate’s target market during the day will see the the office tenants complementing the retail component. At the same time, Chua expects people driving by the area to stop for breakfast and lunch at Southgate.

He said for dinner, Southgate will attract those heading home from Kuala Lumpur and will use the place as a meeting point. “This is the southern gateway out of KL,” he added.

SOURCE: Business Times

A property bubble burst is unlikely to happen in the Asia Pacific, including Malaysia, as there are no signs to indicate such a trend in the next two years, says AmInvestment Bank Group.

Director for Retail Funds Ng Chze How said real estate investment trusts (REITS) would also not experience a burst including those acquired by the group.

“I don’t see a burst or a crash in the property market. “You have high wages, ample liquidity, small percentage of non-performing loans and these plus steps taken by the government to prevent the economy from
overheating, augur well for the property market.

“I don’t see a property burst (happening) in the next six months, one year or two years down the line,” he told reporters at the launch of Malaysia’s first

Asia Pacific REITs fund, AmAsia Pacific REITs, here today.

He said with these factors in place coupled with an economic recovery, there
would be more upside in the market. AmAsia Pacific REITs invests in a diversified portfolio of REITs listed in the Asia Pacific region.

Ng was optimistic the REITS selected by the group would see high occupancy
rate and increasing rental.

“Selected Asian properties have yet to reach their previous peak, as such,
there is room for potential growth,” he said, adding that properties were seen
as a good hedge during the current inflationary period. — Bernama

Source: Business Times

Seri Anggun is a residential development located near to Penang Pesta site, within  Sungai Nibong, Penang. This development comprises 33 units 2-storey terrace houses, 12 commercial units and  2 blocks of apartment buildings. Strategically located with easy access to Bayan Lepas FIZ and a mere minutes drive to Penang bridge.

Property Project : Seri Anggun
Location : Sungai Nibong, Penang
Property Type : Apartment, 2-storey Terrace, Commercial lot
Tenure : Freehold
Built-up Area: 900 sq.ft. (apartment), 1,500 sq.ft (2-storey terrace)
Total Units : 340 (apartment), 33 (2-storey terrace)
Developer : JKP Sdn. Bhd.
Indicative Price (Apartment): RM 170,000 onwards
Indicative Price (2-storey Terrace): RM 490,000 onwards

Central Way is a Gated and Guarded residential development located within the established township of Bukit Tengah, Penang. Phase 1 comprises 99 units of 3-storey terrace houses. Strategically located with easy access to Bukit Mertajam and Perai Industrial Area. A mere minutes drive to Juru Autocity and Penang bridge.

Phase 2: Central Way 2

Property Project : Central Way
Location : Bukit Tengah, Penang
Property Type : 3-Storey Terrace
Tenure : Freehold
Built-up Area: 2,347 sq.ft.
Land Area: 20′ x 63′
Total Units : 99
Indicative Price: RM 358,000 onwards
Developer : Oriental Max Group
Contact No.: 04-356 5860 / 04-356 6398 / 04-356 3848

Therefore, it makes sense for the likes of SP Setia Bhd to eye a stake in such companies as landbank in Penang is depleting and buying the plots there is not easy and cheap, they added.

“Having a stake in companies such as Eastern and Oriental Bhd (E&O) will directly give SP Setia access to present and future property projects in Penang,” an analyst said when asked to comment on reports that major shareholders of SP Setia are keen to buy a stake in E&O.

He added that such interest has also put a spotlight on the value of reclaimed land and its potential development in the state.

For example, analysts cited that Ivory Properties Group Bhd reportedly will have to fork out about RM1 billion to develop 27.34 hectares (ha) and reclaim up to 14.17ha of land that it won via a tender from the Penang Development Corp last Monday.

E&O, one of Penang’s top property developers and land owners, has some 200ha in Penang alone worth RM1.1 billion, according to information obtained from its annual report.

It also has sizeable landbank in Gombak, Ampang, Damansara Heights and other areas of Kuala Lumpur.

Analysts noted that several shareholders of E&O had been building up their stakes in the company between July 19 and July 22 2011, based on the latest announcements.

This could be an indication that something major is indeed happening in E&O, they added.

Singapore’s GKG Investment Holdings Pte Ltd, controlled by Goh Geok Khim, bought 250,000 shares, rising its stake to 11.49 per cent.

Datuk Azizan Abd Rahman bought 100,000 shares in E&O to raise his stake to 0.5 per cent.

E&O is currently 17 per cent-controlled by managing director Datuk Tham Ka Hon and his spouse.

Business Times (BT) reported last week that major SP Setia shareholders planned to buy a stake from E&O shareholders.

SP Setia’s three biggest shareholders are Permodalan Nasional Bhd with a 32.9 per cent stake, the Employees Provident Fund with a 14.47 per cent interest, and SP Setia president and chief operating officer Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin with 11.96 per cent share.

Meanwhile, Mah Sing group hinted that it would prefer to buy land in Penang instead of acquiring a stake in a listed firm with landbank there.

“We are open to opportunities that create value be they outright land acquisitions or joint ventures in Penang,” group managing director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum told BT.

SOURCE: Business Times