Mayer Mansion Owners Win Appeal Case

Source : The Business Times, 22 Aug 2007

They will also keep the $3m deposit paid by Travista

Owners of Mayer Mansion on Devonshire Road have won their case in the Court of Appeal against a company that sued them for cancelling a $30 million collective sale.

The owners of the 10-unit property will also get to keep the $3 million deposit paid by foreign-owned property developer Travista Development.

They have sold their homes for $42 million to Golden Flower Group (GFG) which is owned by the Indonesian family of its chairman Po Sun Kok.

GFG has its core businesses in apparel manufacturing, real estate and financial services.

Its real estate division, Golden Flower Group Real Estate (GFGRE), bought MacDonald House in 2003.

Yesterday, GFGRE chief executive Nico Po told BT that the company bought all 10 units in Mayer Mansion through its subsidiary Somerset Residences, and plans to develop the estate into 30 units of ’boutique, ultra-luxurious apartments’.

The case began in December last year when Travista agreed to buy Mayer Mansion and offered the owners of the 10 unit residential property $30 million in the collective sale.

However, Travista, which had to get a qualifying certificate to buy the property because it was foreign-owned, did not complete the transaction by March 12 as had been agreed between the parties.

Travista sued the owners on April 3 and applied for an injunction to restrain them from exercising their rights under the agreement, but failed in its application.

Two days later, the owners notified Travista that they had rescinded the sale and purchase agreement. Travista finally obtained the qualifying certificate on April 11.
The case went to the High Court where Travista argued that it was entitled to complete the purchase but owners argued that Travista was obliged to use its ‘best endeavours’ to obtain the certificate and to do so ‘without delay’.

Travista’s case was dismissed by the High Court in May and the Court of Appeal last month.

The owners were represented by senior counsel Davinder Singh, Hri Kumar and Tham Feei Sy of Drew & Napier.