Source : The Straits Times, Oct 31, 2007
Majority sellers start second attempt to get STB's approval for the $500m sale
THE saga of the botched $500 million collective sale of Horizon Towers moved a step closer to possible resolution when it returned to the Strata Titles Board (STB) yesterday.
Owners who support the bitterly contested sale to developer Hotel Properties and its two partners are battling it out with those opposed to the sale, first inked in February.
An earlier STB hearing ended abruptly on Aug 3, when the board threw out Horizon Towers' application to approve the collective sale on technical grounds, because three pages were missing.
On Oct 11, the High Court overturned the STB's decision and threw the case back to the board for the hearing to be continued.
The fight over Horizon Towers erupted in April when a group of owners decided the estate's sale price was insufficient in view of the rising market.
The buyers have launched a lawsuit against the owners for alleged breach of contract. They want to claim lost profits of up to $1 billion.
That legal battle will be averted if the condo owners finally win the STB's approval for the sale.
Lawyers from Allen & Gledhill, representing the buyers,
had wanted to take part in the STB hearing but their application for permission to do so was dismissed recently.
That leaves a battle between the majority owners, represented by Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah of Tan, Rajah and Cheah, and the minority owners, represented by various lawyers.
An otherwise unexciting hearing yesterday offered one surprise, when a lawyer turned up unannounced and was asked to leave the lawyers' table.
He had been appointed by an owner who had agreed to sell Horizon Towers en bloc.
But before he left, the lawyer - Mr Cheong Yuen Hee of J. S. Yeh & Co - was allowed to outline his client's key points of contention.
He was then asked to file a written submission.
Mr Cheong alleges there is a 'frustrated' collective sale agreement as well as sale and purchase agreement.
He said his client does not accept the new sales committee or its authority to extend the condo's sale deadline to Dec 11.
The new committee recently stretched the deadline as part of its efforts to avert the buyers' lawsuit.
A lawyer who has been following the case said Mr Cheong's statement was significant.
'It's dramatic because it's the first time a majority owner has come out to say the deal is dead, under the hammer of a lawsuit,'' he said.
Yesterday was the first of several days of hearings scheduled until mid-November.
The next session is on Tuesday.
In coming sessions, to be held at a court room in City Hall building, lawyers will call witnesses to support their respective positions.
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New twist
In a surprising turn, Mr Cheong Yuen Hee of J. S. Yeh & Co, a lawyer appointed by an owner who had agreed to sell Horizon Towers en bloc, turned up unannounced.
He alleges there is a 'frustrated' collective sale agreement as well as sale and purchase agreement. He said his client does not accept the new sales committee or its authority to extend the condo's sale deadline to Dec 11.
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