Tuan Sing Buys Katong Mall For $219m - BT

Source : The Business Times, July 1, 2008

TUAN Sing has clinched the collective sale of Katong Mall for $219 million, which works out to a land price of $865 per sq ft of potential gross floor area including an estimated $24.5 million payable to the state to top up the site's lease to 99 years from a remaining 71 years.

In June, Tuan Sing did an asset swap with entities linked to its controlling shareholders - the Nursalim family - under which Tuan Sing got the Nursalims' 72 per cent of share values in Katong Mall and the Nursalims took over a loan Tuan Sing had extended to Gul Technologies Singapore, which is now its associate company.

Jones Lang LaSalle, which handled the collective sale of Katong Mall, said Tuan Sing was the highest bidder. 'There were a few other interested parties, some of whom placed bids and others submitted letters of interest,' said JLL director (investments) Stella Hoh.

The collective sale, announced yesterday, is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board. So far, owners controlling more than 80 per cent of share values in the property have agreed to a sale.

JLL launched the tender on May 27.

Tuan Sing is expected to either redevelop Katong Mall into a full retail project or to refurbish the existing property. The property has a 78,158 sq ft land area and is zoned for commercial use with a 3.6 plot ratio - the ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area. No development charge is payable for a full commercial development.

Tuan Sing, once an active player in the Singapore residential sector, owns three adjoining office blocks in the Central Business District - Robinson Towers, the annexe to that property, and International Factors Building.

Overseas, it is developing a condominium in Pudong, Shanghai, which is slated for launch by year-end.