BLand to buy land from Penang Turf Club

PETALING JAYA: Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Penang Turf Club to acquire 57.3 acres of prime freehold land for RM459mil cash for high-end residential property projects.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, BLand proposed development that includes (but not limited to) the construction of bungalows, semi-detached houses, condominiums and apartment units on the newly acquired land.

“The salient features of the development are a low-density exclusive guarded and gated-up housing development comprising bungalows, semi-detached houses, condominiums and low medium cost housing (as required by the local regulations) cum abundance of landscape and greenery,” it said.

BLand added that estimated GDV of the project was RM1.52bil, However, the total development cost and the source of funds for the development would only be ascertained once the development plans were finalised. The property development is expected to be developed over five years.

Prime land: Tan says the development on the 57-acre site will not affect the turf club horse-racing activities.

Upon the execution of the sale and purchase agreement, BLand has to pay a deposit of RM20mil to Penang Turf Club while the balance of the deposit of RM25.9mil to be paid within 14 days after obtaing the planning approval. Subsequently, BLand will make the first payment of RM137.7mil within 12 months from unconditional date of the sales and purchase agreement while second payment to be paid within 12 months after the first payment followed by a third payment at a 12 months interval from the second.

BLand said the purchase price at about RM8.01mil per acre or RM184 per square feet.

“The purchase price will be funded through the internally generated funds of the BLand group and borrowings. The actual mix will be decided at later stage after taking into consideration the BLand group's gearing, interest costs and other working capital requirements,” it said.

Meanwhile, Bernama quoted Berjaya Corp Bhd founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan as saying: “We've won the bid to buy 57 acres of land and we're now planning to develop the land into an exclusive residential area comprising bungalows, semi-detached houses and low-rise condominium.”

Given the strong demand for high-end landed properties in Penang, Tan hoped the exclusive homes could further boost value of suburban housing in the area.

“In fact, at first, I wondered whether we've overpaid the price for the land, but we believe in the long term, it will turn out to be a good investment. We're confident that with Berjaya's commitment, this property will be developed into an important residential landmark in Penang,” he said.

Tan said Berjaya established its first property and hotel development in Penang in mid-1990s. “We're happy to be back here again and to be associated with an established and reputable name like Penang Turf Club,” he said.

He said development of the 57 acres would not affect the turf club horse-racing activities which would be held on the newly repaired and rejuvenated main racing track.

Tan also said BLand was looking for other strategic and attractive places in Penang for investment.

In 2004, BLand has won the bid to relocate the Selangor Turf Club in Sungei Besi for RM640mil, and in return BLand gets the club's land in Sungai Besi and plans to carry out a mixed development project valued at RM6.3bil.

By TheStar

THE LIGHT Waterfront Penang

THE LIGHT Waterfront Penang

Designed as Penang’s first integrated leisure, retail and cultural destination within an upmarket and luxurious waterfront enclave, THE LIGHT Waterfront Penang promises a totally new experience for its residents and visitors.


Location
Located along the eastern coastline of Penang island, the project is easily accessible via Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu. This exclusive development is also ideally located beside the Penang Bridge.

It is a mere 15 minutes drive to Penang Free Trade Zone and Penang International Airport, 10 minutes to George Town and 15 to 20 minutes to mainland Penang via the Penang Bridge.

PHASE II consists of shopping malls, waterfront alfresco dining, hotels, Cultural & Performing Arts Centre, marina, corporate gallery offices with office naming rights, grade A offices, a high tech business park and an IT Precinct which consists of an IT Mall, IT offices and IT incubators.


Built-up area
THE LIGHT Residential, featured under PHASE I, is a semi-furnished development with tastefully done fittings. It consists of six projects as follows:

THE LIGHT LINEAR comes with inverter air condition units, water heaters for all bathrooms and a centralised water filtration system while THE LIGHT COLLECTION (THE LIGHT POINT, THE LIGHT COLLECTION I, II, III & IV) come complete with fittings such as kitchen cabinets with hood, hob & oven, centralised vacuum system, inverter air condition units, water heater for all bathrooms and a centralised water filtration system.

The indicative price starts from as low as RM639,800.


Facilities and amenities
THE LIGHT LINEAR offers a comprehensive range of special amenities and facilities to suit a luxurious lifestyle, including a swimming pool, wading pool, jacuzzi, tennis court, gymnasium, games room and study area. Other facilities include a sky lounge, putting green, reflexology path, jogging and cycling path, and a children’s playground.

For those who enjoy entertaining guests, there’s a BBQ area and community hall to cater to various functions and events.

Facilities for THE LIGHT COLLECTION (THE LIGHT POINT, THE LIGHT COLLECTION I, II, III & IV) comprise of 8 swimming pools, 5 gymnasiums, marina facilities, tennis and squash courts, basketball court, children’s pool, and sauna and steam bath.

Additionally, it also has games room, kid’s play room, children’s playground, coral waterways, reading rooms, multi-purpose halls, sky lounge and a linear park.

Launch
The soft launch for THE LIGHT LINEAR was held in August 2009. Approximately 80% of the units were sold within the first two days of launch. THE LIGHT POINT saw over 65% of the units sold within the first few hours of its soft launch in December 2009 .

Launched in May 2010, THE LIGHT COLLECTION I which consists of 24 units of Water Villas was the talk of the property market in Penang. So far, 65% of the units have been sold.

The most recently launched project is THE LIGHT COLLECTION II. The uniqueness of the Pier Apartments was a hit with buyers. Within the first day of soft launch in December last year, 60% sales was achieved.

THE LIGHT COLLETION III is scheduled for soft launch in August this year while THE LIGHT COLLECTION IV is scheduled for soft launch in early 2012.

The first series of residences is targeted for completion in the third quarter of 2012, and the rest will be staggered for completion every six months after that. The last phase featuring THE LIGHT COLLECTION IV will be ready in early 2015.

There will be a 5% rebate for Bumiputra purchasers.


The Developer
The RM6.5bil project is undertaken by Jelutong Development Sdn Bhd - a subsidiary of IJM Properties Sdn Bhd. THE LIGHT represents IJM’s pioneering challenge to showcase the biggest and the best integrated waterfront living, with residential, recreational, entertainment, business, hospitality, education and commercial components all in one dynamic hub.

IJM Land Bhd is the listed property development arm of IJM Corp Bhd. It is a product of a merger between IJM Properties and RB Land, and now stands as one of Malaysia’s leading property developers with a presence in prominent locations in Penang, Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah. IJM Land is a reputable developer of a wide range of property products including integrated developments, townships, residential projects, offices, retail and recreational facilities.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Developer Information :

Jelutong Development Sdn Bhd ( a subsidiary of IJM Properties Sdn Bhd)
THE LIGHT Sales Gallery
16-01, Menara IJM Land,
1, Lebuh Tunku Kudin 3,
11700, Gelugor,
Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: +604 - 2961 333
Email: tansh@ijm.com
Website: http://www.thelightwaterfront.com/




Disclaimers:
All information contained in this website are subject to change by the property developer and/or amendments as required by the relevant authorities without prior notice and cannot form part of an offer or contract. While every reasonable care has been taken in providing the said information, this website or the property developer cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies. All illustration are artist's impression only. Please contact the property developer for more details.

By http://www.starproperty.my/

Foreign firms keen to build major roads in Penang

INTERNATIONAL contractors from several countries have indicated that they are interested to build four proposed major road projects in Penang.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the contractors were from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

He said the state government would invite those interested to bid for the projects via request for proposals (RFP) at the end of the year.

“The RFP will be out at the end of the year. It will take another six months before the contracts can be awarded to the successful bidders,” Lim said in an interview on Friday.

He said the time was needed for the state to evaluate the bids and for the bidders to conduct feasibility studies for the projects.

The proposed projects are the 4.2km Gurney Drive-Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu by-pass, the 4.6km Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu-Bandar Baru Air Itam bypass, the 6.5km Penang-Butterworth Tunnel, and a 12km proposed road connecting Tanjung Bungah and Teluk Bahang.

The Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) is now carrying out a study for the 6.5km Penang-Butterworth Tunnel project that will connect Gurney Drive on Penang island and Bagan Ajam in north Seberang Prai.

Lim has said earlier that BUCG had stated that they had secured RM10bil in funds should the project move forward.

The Penang-Butterworth Tunnel project stemmed from a memorandum of understanding between BUCG and the state government signed in Putrajaya in April.

It was one of eight agreements signed between Malaysia and China in the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.

Lim had earlier also said that while the state welcomed all proposals, the project would be awarded by open tender.

BUCG is an established state-owned company in China whose projects included the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing.

By TheStar

'Property bubble burst unlikely in Malaysia'

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

By Business Times

Property bubble building up but still at the comfortable level

KUALA LUMPUR: There is a property bubble building up in Malaysia and the region but it is nowhere near alarming levels as the main indicators are still at comfortable levels, AmInvestment Bank Group said.

"As an investor, I love bubbles because that's where the money is. At this juncture, I see a small bubble in the property market, it's no where near big yet and I'm not seeing any property bubble bursting soon," AmInvestment Bank Group director of retail funds Ng Chze How said.

"For that to take place, I think you need to see a few factors taking place. Firstly, you need to see very high overall borrowings and leveraging, which is currently not happening. Secondly, is to look at the non-performing loans (NPLs). Across this region, the NPLs are still very healthy. Thirdly, you need to look at the liquidity in the market. There's so much liquidity, so much cash sitting in the system."

Ng was speaking to the media after the launch of the country's first Asia Pacific REITs unit trust fund by AmMutual here yesterday.

The unit trust funds will be solely investing in REITs in Asia.

For a start, it is looking at Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, besides a minimal exposure in Malaysia. The fund will be managed by Funds Management Division (FMD) of AmInvestment Bank Group.

"When we are creating this fund, we want it to be riskier than bonds but safer than equities. This fund does that. It offers investors opportunities to diversify away from stocks and bonds and thus, reducing investors' overall portfolio risks," said FMD chief executive officer Datin Maznah Mahbob.

She added that investors will receive high dividend yields from investing in REITs as the fund is structured to distribute a high percentage of its profit to shareholders.

Over the past five years, the performance of REITs in Asia had outperformed global REITs by more than three times. During the period, REITs in Asia grew 46.2 per cent, while REITs globally grew 14.4 per cent.

"We are comfortable with Asian properties, in line with the region's continued growth, which will lead to an increasing demand for commercial occupancy rates in Asia, which are averaging to above 90 per cent.

"For certain countries in Asia Pacific, we are seeing an uptrend in rental rates for both offices and the retail sector, which will bode well for unitholders of REITs as this translates to higher income distribution," said Andrew Wong, chief investment officer of equity, asset allocation, and fund management.

The approved fund size is 200 million units with an initial offer price of 50 sen per unit. The initial offer period ends this Sunday, and its minimum investment being RM1,000 for Malaysian residents and the minimum additional investment for Malaysian residents is RM500.

The fund is distributed by all AmBank branches, AmBank Agency sales force, AmPriority Banking, AmPrivate Banking and Hong Leong Bank.

By Business Times