Portfolio | News Article

GuocoLand to buy condominium project
Thursday August 9, 2007

PETALING JAYA: Property investor and developer GuocoLand Bhd has agreed to buy a condominium project that is being constructed at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC).

GuocoLand, a member of the Hong Leong Malaysia group, announced late on Wednesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Astute Modernization Sdn Bhd, entered into a share sale and purchase agreement with Eriton Sdn Bhd, Mohd Shukri Abdullah and Deepak Jaikishan a/l Jaikishan Rewachand to acquire the entire equity of Titan Debut Sdn Bhd for RM71mil cash.

Titan Debut had in April signed an agreement with Oval Residences Sdn Bhd to buy all the 140 units of service apartments, known as Oval Apartments, for RM404.58mil cash.

Construction of Oval Apartments was about 30% completed and was expected to be completed by December next year, GuocoLand said.

The project is located along Jalan Binjai at KLCC.

The proposed acquisition was expected to increase the gearing of GuocoLand from 8% to 22%, the company said.

The net book value of Titan Debut was RM86,735 as at end-July, GuocoLand added.

Hong Leong Malaysia controls GuocoLand through GuocoGroup Ltd, which is listed in Hong Kong.

GuocoGroup is also the major shareholder of GuocoLand Ltd that is listed in Singapore.

GuocoLand Singapore has expanded its pipeline of projects in Singapore and China well, and its share price had more than doubled from S$2.22 to S$4.78 on Thursday.

(Article above excerpt from thestar.com.my)