New Mapletree Project

Source ：The Business Times, May 27, 2008

MAPLETREE, a real estate unit of Singapore investment company Temasek, said yesterday it is developing property worth US$320 million in China's Guangdong through its private real estate fund.

The Mapletree India-China Fund will have an 80 per cent stake in the project, which includes seven blocks of serviced apartments and a mall, while Guangzhou Southern-Donald Scientific Technology Co owns the remainder, Mapletree said in a statement. Mapletree said the newly launched fund has raised US$1 billion so far, half from Mapletree and the other half from an unidentified international institutional investor. The targeted fund size is about US$1.5 billion, it said.

The 33-hectare project in the Nanhai district of Foshan city is the fund's third in China, and also includes a business park. Named Nanhai Business City, it will be built over five to eight years. The two earlier investments are a US$144 million residential and retail development in Xi'an and the US$121 million acquisition of an office block in Beijing's central business district, it said. - Reuters

Top HK Developer Sun Hung Kai's Board Ousts Chairman - BT

Source : The Business Times, May 27, 2008

HONG KONG - The board of Hong Kong's top developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, ousted company chairman Walter Kwok on Tuesday as a family power struggle convulsed one of the city's most respected blue-chip firms.

Mr Kwok is replaced by his 79-year-old mother, Kwong Siu Hing

Mr Kwok, who has taken a leave of absence since Feb 18, has accused younger brothers Thomas and Raymond of trying to have him dismissed without legal basis, but a Hong Kong court on Monday rejected his bid to block a vote by the board.

Their mother, Kwong Siu Hing, 79, will take Walter Kwok's place, the firm said in a statement.

Sun Hung Kai shares climbed 1.3 per cent in the morning, following a 1.8 per cent gain on Monday. But they had shed a tenth of their value since the start of the month, as the Kwoks' increasingly acerbic battle made newspaper headlines. -- REUTERS

Property Firms Raise Rents In Central Tokyo

Source : The Business Times, May 27, 2008

Average rent in five central wards up 12% last month from June 2007

(TOKYO) Japan's leading estate firms including Mitsui Fudosan Co have begun proposing big rent rises in central Tokyo, where office vacancy rates have been hovering near 20-year lows.

These rock-bottom vacancy rates have helped Mitsui Fudosan and rival Mitsubishi Estate Co weather tougher times for much of Japan's property market, which has been hit by tighter credit and stricter apartment building codes.

Mitsui Fudosan, Japan's largest real estate developer, said yesterday that it was in talks with tenants to raise office rents in central Tokyo by an average of 10-15 per cent.

The country's second-largest developer, Mitsubishi Estate, also said that it was in talks with tenants to raise office rents in the Marunouchi area of central Tokyo by 15-20 per cent.

Another major developer, unlisted Mori Trust Co, said that it was preparing to raise office rents in central Tokyo's Minato district by an average of 20 per cent.

The office vacancy rate in Tokyo's 23 wards stood at 2.1 per cent last month - the lowest since the bursting of Japan's asset-inflated bubble economy in 1990, according to Ikoma Data Service System, a research firm specialising in the market for office buildings.

Average rent in Tokyo's five central wards last month was 15,120 yen (S$199) per approximately 3.3 sq m. That marks a 12 per cent increase from 13,530 yen in June of last year, according to the most recently available data from Ikoma.

'Tokyo's office market is extremely tight,' said Ikoma researcher Mitsuhiro Asada.

'With signs of an economic recovery, many companies started hiring more people, and that's making them want to move to bigger offices,' he said.

He added that such conditions would likely last for a while, helping real estate firms' businesses.

Mitsubishi Estate said that it was seeking the rent increase given the tight office market situation in the Marunouchi area. It said that its vacancy rate in that district was just 0.19 per cent as at the end of March, the lowest since it started disclosing the data in 2003.

Shares of Mitsui Fudosan tumbled 3.8 per cent to 2,440 yen and those of Mitsubishi Estate lost 2.7 per cent to 2,675 yen at the end of trade yesterday. -- Reuters

Malaysian MPs Slam Govt For Losing Pedra Branca

Source : The Straits Times, May 27, 2008

Parliament debate shows island issue could become a political hot potato

KUALA LUMPUR - THE 'loss' of Pedra Branca to Singapore became a topic of debate in Parliament yesterday as several MPs expressed unhappiness at the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The debate was led by several Johor Members of Parliament, as well as opposition leaders.

The vocal Datuk Puad Zarkashi, an Umno MP from Johor, said Malaysia lost because it failed to archive its historical documents properly.

He lambasted the government for failing to locate a crucial letter from the British colonial government seeking the Johor sultan's permission to build a lighthouse on the island which he described as a key piece of evidence.

'As a Johorean, I am disappointed. We lost, simple as that. I don't believe in the win-win situation as claimed by the government,' he said.

The debate in Parliament came after a weekend of measured response from politicians and the media, and is an indication that the loss of the island could become a political hot potato.

The MPs had been briefed in advance of the ICJ verdict last Friday as the government attempted to moderate the response to the decision, but strong sentiments are beginning to surface.

The opposition has also jumped onto the bandwagon to blame the government for its poor handling of the case.

The opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) in Johor yesterday lodged a police report against former foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar for having been 'careless' in the handling of the case.

'They did not do anything against Singapore when it constructed buildings and a light house on the island,' Johor PAS information chief Mazlan Alimin said.

The party is also planning to table a motion in Parliament today to debate the matter.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim wrote in his blog yesterday that the ICJ decision was a bitter pill, and attacked the Malaysian government for its weak case.

'Malaysians should express their anger and regret at the carelessness, and protest to the Umno and BN-led government, and Attorney-General,' he said.

His wife, Wan Azizah Ismail, an MP from Penang, said in Parliament that Malaysians were saddened by the decision, against which there was no appeal.

Mr Mahfuz Omar, a PAS MP from Kedah, blamed the Attorney-General for failing to advise the government adequately.

Independent MP Ibrahim Ali urged the government to be wary of Singapore, pointing out that the Republic has a water treatment plant in Pulai which was manned by its personnel.

'I have been made to understand that it is big, and if it was to overflow, half of Johor will be flooded,' he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian analyst Datuk Dr Cheah See Kian was quoted in the Nanyang Siang Pau yesterday as saying that the ICJ decision could have military and strategic significance for Singapore.

He said Pedra Branca was a strategic spot from the military point of view, and that it could even be used as a new naval base.

'Although we are not certain whether there are oilfields around Pedra Branca, Singapore has achieved a historical breakthrough with the verdict,' he said.


LETDOWN
'As a Johorean, I am disappointed. We lost, simple as that. I don't believe in the win-win situation as claimed by the government.'

- DATUK PUAD ZARKASHI, an Umno MP from Johor, said Malaysia lost because it failed to archive its historical documents properly.

KL Govt Told: Make Sure Two Other Islands Don't Fall To Singapore

Source : The Straits Times, May 27, 2008

SEVERAL Malaysian politicians have asked the government to keep a close eye on two Malaysian islands to ensure they will not be lost to Singapore, like Pedra Branca was.

PULAU PISANG: The lighthouse on Malaysia's Pulau Pisang is managed by Singapore under a 1885 agreement. -- PHOTO: BERITA HARIAN MALAYSIA

One of the Malaysian-owned islands is Pulau Pisang, on which Singapore operates a lighthouse. The other is Pulau Merambong off Tuas.

Umno-owned mass-selling newspaper Utusan Malaysia yesterday reported on its Page 1 the comments by a Johor MP who said the government must quickly draw up a programme to develop Pulau Pisang to ensure Malaysian sovereignty would not be lost.

The daily also published a big file picture of Pulau Pisang which showed the lighthouse at its centre.

The lighthouse on Pulau Pisang is managed by Singapore under an agreement in 1885 between the ruler of Johor and the governor of the Straits Settlements.

The MP for Pontian, a Johor constituency that includes the island, Mr Ahmad Maslan, said the Pulau Pisang lighthouse has a history 'similar' to Pulau Batu Puteh, the Malaysian name for Pedra Branca.

'Taking a leaf from the bitter experience of Johoreans when Batu Puteh fell under the ownership of Singapore, it is not right for Pulau Pisang to receive the same fate if ownership claims were to be made one day,' he said.

Mr Hamim Samuri, an Umno MP from Johor, said in Parliament yesterday that the government must learn from the Pedra Branca experience and keep an eye on Singapore's activities near Malaysia.

'We have to carefully watch Pulau Merambong which is near Tuas,' he said.

Referring to Pulau Pisang, he said the government must ensure that it is not lost to Singapore as well.

'The Singaporeans fly their flag on the lighthouse there. It gives the impression that they have sovereignty over the island,' he said.