Capitaland 01 (May 08 - May 10)

[peter]

hi Lena,
Just checking, the 8 service apartments you mentioned still belongs to Capitaland and not their service apartment arm Ascott? Tks

[LenaHuat]

Hi peter
I should have been more careful with my post. Actually I know the apts belong to Ascott but to me, it's the group, CapLand.
Maybe this extract from 2day's BT will help:

Property giant CapitaLand has a presence in Thailand through its residential property development business (under a joint venture with TCC Land Co) and services residences arm The Ascott.

TCC CapitaLand has 10 residential projects in Bangkok - one completed and fully sold and the other nine under construction. TCC Land (which owns 60 per cent of the JV), is part of TCC Group, controlled by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

'Our local partner is familiar with the ground and will be well equipped to manage operations amidst the current situation in Thailand,' a CapitaLand spokeswoman said. '. . . we are positive that the business environment will continue to be favourable, despite occasional upheavals', she added.

Ascott, which has been operating in Thailand for over a decade, is the country's largest international serviced residence owner-operator. It manages eight properties in Bangkok with a total 1,600 apartments in locations such as Sukhumvit Road and South Sathorn Road.

The group has minority stakes in five of these properties but does not have any equity interest in the other three. 'Our business focuses on long-stay guests so the current situation has minimal impact on occupancy at our properties in Bangkok although we have experienced some room cancellations,' said Ascott's country general manager for Thailand, Eddie Lim.

He added while the areas around Ascott's serviced residences in Bangkok are calm and its properties are operating normally, the group has 'heightened security measures' and 'a full contingency plan' in place.

I don't see how occupancy is 'normal' when arrivals at the airport indicate at least a 20% drop.

[winston]

Hmmm... I'm just connecting the dots.

I have not seen any news in the Singapore side about the problems at Macao Studio City where Capitaland may have paid Sin$132m to Sin$240m in 2007.

===========================================

DJ eSun: US Hedge Fund Passport Sold Entire 28.78% Stake
2010-05-03 17:10:00

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--eSun Holdings Ltd. (0571.HK) said Monday that U.S. hedge fund Passport Management LLC sold its entire 28.78% stake in the company April 30.

The entertainment company, which is involved in the stalled Macao Studio City project, said in a statement it hadn't been informed of the buyer or buyers of the shares.

The statement also didn't give a reason for the stake sale by Passport.

Source: Kate O'Keeffe, Dow Jones Newswires


=============================================

And this was the news release in Jan 2007 ...

CapitaLand signs Share Purchase Agreement for a prime integrated leisure and entertainment development project in Macau

Singapore, 9 January 2007 – CapitaLand Limited (CapitaLand) has signed a Share Purchase Agreement with eSun Holdings Limited, one of Asia’s leading media and entertainment companies and an associate company of Lai Sun Development, a leading hotel and property developer.

The Agreement effectively gives CapitaLand a 20% strategic interest in a prime integrated leisure and entertainment development project in Macau to be named Macao Studio City. This will be CapitaLand’s first investment in Macau.

The remaining interests in the project will be held by eSun Holdings (40%) and by New Cotai, LLC (40%). The latter is a consortium of US-based investors including David Friedman, a veteran resort and gaming developer who will be the co-Chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer of Macao Studio City; and the private US-based investment firms, Silver Point Capital, L.P, and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC.

The share acquisition cost for CapitaLand’s 20% effective interest is HK$658 million (S$132 million), based on the current approved plot ratio. Application to further increase the plot ratio for the development is currently in progress and the total share acquisition cost will be adjusted to reflect such increase subject to a maximum share acquisition cost of HK$1.118 billion (S$240 million).

http://www.capitalandilec.com/newsfile/ ... 9Jan07.pdf

[peter]

Thanks Lena for the BT news clip

[millionairemind]

May 10, 2010, 2.49 pm (Singapore time)

CapitaLand building Raffles City in Shenzhen for US$878m

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

SINGAPORE - CapitaLand will build an integrated development in Shenzhen under the Raffles City brand.

The development will be in the city's Nanshan district and will be the property giant's eighth Raffles City property internationally, comprising six in China and one each in Singapore and Bahrain.

CapitaLand will be developing the Raffles City Shenzhen complex on a 578,291 sq ft site. CapitaLand will also be developing on the same site for strata sale an office tower, residential apartments, small office home office units and shop space.

The entire project - comprising Raffles City Shenzhen and the strata-sale component - has a project development estimate of about 6 billion yuan (US$878 million).

Planning and development works for the entire development are underway and the project is slated for completion in phases from 2014, CapitaLand said in a release issued to the Singapore Exchange on May 10.

[LenaHuat]

The Chairman's moves ard in a wheelchair and most likely walks with a walking frame. Who's taking over?