It was a simple technical error on the sale documents that caused the collective sale of Horizon Towers units to fall through.Intended buyers, Hotel Properties (HPL) and its two partners yesterday filed a suit in the High Court against the 173 majority owners for allegedly breaching the option to purchase agreement for the $500 million enbloc sale of the Leonie Hill property.
Their move comes after the Strata Titles Board (STB) released the grounds for its Aug 3 oral decision to stop the sale application. The sellers had requested a clarification.
The STB said documents that carried the signatures of three majority owners who are sellers were not included in the sale application, but the original committee members representing the sellers had made a statutory declaration that the signed documents were included. They did not realise that the documents were not submitted, The Straits Times reported today.
STB could not allow any changes to be made to the application, as it only convenes to hear a case once documents are declared to be correct and in order.
It added there were concerns over whether it had the power to allow an amendment.
Under the law, the board's role ceases when a sale application is found to be defective.
In another statement, HPL said that proceedings have been started in the High Court against the sellers.
HPL and partners Morgan Stanley Real Estate-managed funds and Qatar Investment Authority said the sellers are in breach of the contract.
This means that the sellers must refile the sale documents and sell their 99-year leasehold estate at the $500 million priced agreed upon in February.
Damages were earlier estimated by the buyers' lawyers, Allen & Gledhill, to be at $800 million to $1 billion
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