Fragrance Group Buys Two More Properties

Source : The Business Times, July 25, 2009

PROPERTY and hotel firm Fragrance Group has bought two more properties, taking the total value of its acquisitions in the past month to close to $100 million. The company yesterday announced the acquisition of a 4,453-square-metre plot of land on Telok Kurau Road for $36.5 million and a 2,056-sq-m freehold site on Pasir Panjang Road for $23 million. The company's two other acquisitions since mid-June cost a total of $33.51 million.

Fragrance Group chief executive Koh Wee Meng declined to comment on the identities of the sellers and on his company's specific plans for the new acquisitions.

Construction and sale of the Telok Kurau development is expected to begin in the second half of FY2009. Meanwhile, said Mr Koh, tenancy at the 14 two-storey shophouses at the Pasir Panjang location will continue for a 'minimum of one to two years'.

The $59.5 million purchases cap a busy week for the company. On July 21, it acquired the seven-storey Premier Centre from Hong Leong Group for $18 million, or $1,076 per square foot (psf). The office block is located at the corner of Beach Road and Tan Quee Lan Street.

Early last month, the company was awarded the tender for a Short Street hotel site by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Its winning bid of $15.51 million, or $353 psf, was 76 per cent higher than the $8.8 million trigger price, and 11 per cent more than the next highest bid.

Fragrance Group has launched more than 20 landed properties and apartments to date. Additionally, its Fragrance Hotel chain has 20 branches islandwide, including a hostel on Dunlop Street. In its latest financial results, the group posted an 11.4 per cent increase in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 to $17.7 million. Turnover rose 33.1 per cent to $79.5 million. The group's shares closed six cents up at 61.5 cents yesterday.