Saturday, November 3, 2007

KepLand's 2 New Viet Projects Make It 7 For year

Source : The Business Times, November 3, 2007

Latest joint ventures involve villa and condominium developments

KEPPEL Land has entered into two separate joint ventures (JV) to build a luxury villa development and a condominium development in Vietnam. This takes the number of projects in Vietnam announced by Keppel Land this year to seven.

In a statement yesterday, Keppel Land said that the two projects in District 9 of Ho Chi Minh City will be developed in phases and that the combined investment capital is estimated at S$319.5 million.

The JVs will be done through Keppel Land's wholly owned subsidiaries, Dattson Pte Ltd and Sophia International Pte Ltd. Its Vietnamese JV partner is An Phu Corporation.

Keppel Land said that it expects to take up 55 per cent stakes in the JV companies while An Phu will subscribe for the remaining interest.

The luxury villa development will be built on a 13-hectare site and have about 200 homes while the condominium development, on an adjacent 6.8 ha site, will have about 1,940 apartments.

In 2005, Keppel Land launched Villa Riviera, its first luxury development in Ho Chi Minh City which subsequently sold out.

Ang Wee Gee, director of regional investments at Keppel Land said: 'We are capitalising on our hallmark quality and success with Villa Riviera which has shown that our introduction of an exclusive gated community has been very positively received.'

He added: 'Our first mover advantage and established network in Vietnam have enabled us to build up a strong portfolio of prime properties rapidly.'

The latest developments will be near Ho Chi Minh City's Saigon Hi-Tech Park where Intel's US$1 billion test and assembly plant is being built.

Construction of the villas and condominiums is expected to start when planning approval is obtained, with the sales launch of the first phase slated for early 2009.

Keppel Land is also jointly developing with An Phu waterfront condominiums fronting the Saigon River in Binh Thanh District, only four kilometres away from Ho Chi Minh City's CBD.

These latest joint ventures follow Keppel Land's announcement to develop a 5.1-ha waterfront residential site in District 2 last month.

The soft launch of The Estella, an up-market development comprising 1,500 apartments in the popular An Phu Ward of District 2, is slated for Q4 2007.

Keppel Land's other developments in Ho Chi Minh City include three waterfront residential developments fronting the Saigon River in Binh Thanh District, Ca Cam River in District 7 and Ca Tre River in District 2.

No comments: