Marina Site Draws Record Bid Of $2b

Source : The Straits Times, 19 Sep 2007

A PRIME plot in Marina View has drawn a top bid of $2.02 billion - the first time the price of state land here has crossed the $2 billion mark.
The whopping bid on Wednesday pipped two other close offers, which also came in at near-record levels.

Property experts say the bullish bids are a continuing vote of confidence in the property market and could serve as a shot in the arm to market activity, which has quietened somewhat in recent weeks.

'It is exactly the dose of confidence booster that the market needs to keep it going at this point in time,' said Ms Tay Huey Ying, director of research and consultancy at Colliers International.

The $2.02 billion bid was submitted by Macquarie Global Property Advisers (MGPA), a private equity real estate fund management firm partly owned by Australia's Macquarie Bank Group.

It is almost double what property watchers predicted the 1.02ha site would fetch in May, when its tender was first launched.

The 99-year leasehold plot is located behind the One Shenton and Sail @ Marina Bay condominiums.

CapitaLand and Mapletree put in a joint bid of $1.84 billion, while Malaysia's IOI Group offered $1.6 billion.

Consultants said the turnout was quite good, given the site's high price and the ongoing global credit uncertainty.