Sentoria set to spend RM30mil on 500 acres of land in Sarawak

PETALING JAYA: Sentoria Group Bhd is close to purchasing some 500 acres of land in Sarawak from Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMSB) for RM30mil for the development of its third water theme park and safari resort city valued at about RM1bil, said sources.

The sources said that Sentoria, via its wholly owned subsidiary Sentoria Borneo Land Sdn Bhd, was purchasing the 500 acres of land in Bandar Baru Samariang, Sarawak, from Projek Bandar Samariang Sdn Bhd, a CMSB unit.

The land comes with a 99-year lease term and will be developed over six phases over an eight- to 10-year period. Some 200 acres have been gazetted for the resort city and water theme park, while 300 acres have been reserved for the residential development.

Sentoria closed the day barely traded at 67 sen. It was listed in February 2012 at a price of 87 sen.
These developments are not surprising, as on Aug 13, Sentoria had told Bursa Malaysia that it had acquired two RM2 companies, Sentoria Borneo Land and Sentoria Borneo Samariang Sdn Bhd. Both companies were incorporated on May 3 this year and would become wholly owned subsidiaries of Sentoria.

While Sentoria Borneo Land’s intended principal activity will be in property development, Sentoria Borneo Samariang’s intended principal activity is in leisure and hospitality.

The gross development value (GDV) of the resort city will be RM600mil, while the remaining GDV of RM400mil will come from the residential development portion.

Having a third resort city will certainly be a coup for Sentoria, which is already the operator of Bukit Gambang Resort City (BGRC) in Kuantan, Pahang.

In January, Sentoria told Bursa that it had signed agreements with another property developer, Seriemas Development Sdn Bhd, to develop an RM1.8bil integrated resort city in Morib, Selangor.
Seriemas is a wholly owned subsidiary of PNB Development Sdn Bhd, which, in turn, is wholly owned by Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

The Morib resort city will include a Mediterranean-themed water park and a river safari with lions and tigers roaming free in a tropical setting in Selangor.

Bukit Gambang Water Resort attracted some 600,000 visitors in 2012, with an average revenue per user of RM35. More than 95% of the visitors were locals. The previous year, the theme park had attracted some 522,000 visitors.

For the second quarter to March 31, 2013, Sentoria’s net profit dropped to RM2.52mil from RM6.21mil on the back of a 26.46% increase in revenue to RM49.27mil, compared to the previous period.

For the six-month period, meanwhile, net profit dropped 42.35% to RM10.39mil on the back of a 4.56% drop in revenue to RM92.46mil.

The lower profits were due to the construction of lower-medium-cost housing projects which resulted in lower margins, and losses incurred in the leisure and hospitality division due to cyclical low occupancy rates for the resort rooms.

There were also initial operating costs and overheads incurred for the Arabian Bay Resorts.

The Star, 23 August 2013

UDA eyes Pekeliling redevelopment

PROPOSAL UNDERWAY: Company plans to transform area into a Malaysian Battersea
GOVERNMENT-owned UDA Holdings Bhd wants to take over the Pekeliling flats site in Kuala Lumpur, and turn in into "Malaysia's Battersea Power Station project".

Newly-appointed chairman Datuk Johari Abd Ghani said UDA is in the process of submitting its proposal to redevelop the site.

Efforts to rejuvenate the area has stalled for 12 years.

"The 15ha development can be turned into our very own Battersea development project comprising mixed development such as condominiums and commercial lots," Johari said.
The Battersea project is a RM40 billion power station redevelopment in London undertaken by a consortium comprising SP Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund.

UDA is ready to develop the Pekeliling area by building affordable homes priced between RM300,000 and RM350,000 a unit strategically located in the city, Johari told reporters after the company's Hari Raya open house yesterday.

The redevelopment of Tuanku Abdul Rahman flats, better know as the Pekeliling flats, was mooted as early as 1995.

The government decided to redevelop the flats as part of a project called Taman Sari to provide better housing and living conditions in the area.

At the end of 2005, government-appointed developer Asie Sdn Bhd began demolishing Block A and B after most of the residents from the 11 blocks moved out.

Demolition work on the rest of the housing blocks, however, stalled due to a legal tussle.

Built in 1967, the 17-storey flats were one of the city's earliest public housing projects.

In 2011, property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd secured a deal to develop part of the Pekeliling flats area into serviced residences and retail units with an estimated gross development value of RM900 million.

But the project did not kick off as Mah Sing faced legal and monetary issues with project owner Asie.

Johari said the Pekeliling project has dragged on for too long and it is time that redevelopment takes off.

"If the EPF, Sime Darby and SP Setia can do it in Battersea, a similar project can also be done in Pekeliling by UDA and joint-venture partners," Johari said, declining to reveal investment details.

Johari said the Pekeliling redevelopment can be partly funded by UDA's other projects such as the ongoing Pudu development.
He said the project will give high priority to the Bumiputera agenda.

For example, the commercial lots will be awarded to genuine Bumiputera enterpreneurs who really want to do business with no political connections and they will not be allowed to sub-let their lots to non-Bumiputeras.

Johari, who was appointed UDA chairman on July 8, said he wants to go all out to bring UDA back to its former glory with emphasis on affordable houses, especially for the middle income group.

"UDA wants to focus on building homes within the RM200,000 and RM300,000 range," said Johari.

UDA, which is wholly-owned by the Finance Ministry, owns malls such as the Bukit Bintang Plaza, Pertama Complex and the AnCasa Hotel and Spa chain.

Business Times, 29 August 2013

iProperty: Affordability remains major concern for Asian property buyers

SINGAPORE: An online cross-market property survey by iProperty Group, owner and operator of Asia's No.1 network of property websites, revealed that consumers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Singapore continue to view affordability as the major concern, despite the various cooling off measures introduced by the governments in the region.

Across the four countries surveyed, the respondents had somewhat more in common than they had differences. 

The key similarities included affordability and rising house prices which continued to remain the biggest concerns amongst respondents in all four countries.

The iProperty Group leveraged on their market leading websites in Malaysia (iproperty.com.my), Indonesia (Rumah123.com and rumahdanproperti.com), Hong Kong (GoHome.com.hk), and Singapore (iproperty.com.sg) as the bellwether to gauge the opinions of thousands of consumers in the region.

The survey attracted close to 30,000 respondents, majority aged between 26 and 50 years old.
The respondents comprised largely of executive/managerial and professional occupations and based on their annual household income; most respondents belong to the low- and middle-income group just like in the previous survey.

iProperty Group chief executive officer Shaun Di Gregorio said: "The survey findings revealed a high percentage of first-time home buyers especially in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
"Their factors of consideration when deciding to purchase property has also changed, with location trumping price, which was not the case six months ago.

"In Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong the respondents' main motivation to purchase property is to own their own home, while the Singaporeans surveyed are motivated by long-term investment," he said when unveiling the survey results here today.

However, in Hong Kong, while price and location were the key factors of consideration, it was interesting to note that the living environment was also a major consideration.

When it came to what type of property these survey respondents preferred, the findings showed that landed property was the most popular property type in Malaysia and Indonesia.

In Hong Kong and Singapore, the survey revealed that private condominiums were the most popular type of property.

"Landed property has long been properties favoured by various investors and property buyers over the course of time and the market for landed property continues to be the favourite.

"The main reason as development and resident population rapidly grows, land tends to grow scarce, hence the more expensive prime land becomes," said Di Gregorio.

This phenomenon can be seen in Singapore and Hong Kong, where the cost of owning landed property is overwhelmingly high, therefore making private condominiums the favourite option.
Due to this, it was not surprising that the survey findings revealed nearly 40% of Singaporeans surveyed were keen in investing in properties in Malaysia and Australia.

The Singaporeans also showed reduced interest (from 42% to 39%) in Malaysia as an investment option, while interest in Australia has picked up (from 15% to 19%).

In Hong Kong, a mere 10% considered buying property overseas. Of those interested in the overseas property market, Southeast Asia was the preferred choice.

Respondents who chose Southeast Asian region (including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) climbed to 39%, an increase from the 35% in the last survey.

 Level of support for opportunities in the United Kingdom (25%) and Australia (24%) remained high while interest in China still remained strong, with Shenzhen being the most popular among the Chinese cities named.

- Bernama, 20 August 2013