Singapore Corporate News - 21 Sep 2007

Sunshine to acquire China property firm for 61m yuan

SUNSHINE Holdings is buying a China property company for 61 million yuan (S$12.2 million).
The acquisition, Henan Jinjiang Real Estate Co Ltd, will be 90 per cent owned by Xinxiang Huilong Real Estate Co Ltd and 10 per cent by Henan Huilong Property Management Co Ltd. The latter two companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Sunshine.

Sunshine said Henan Jinjiang is a property developer, with two projects in Zhengzhou.

Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province, has a population of 3.5 million and a gross domestic product of 165 billion yuan in 2005. The two projects - Zhong Mou Project (site area: 76,000 sq metres) and Yan Ming Hu Project (779,000 sq metres) - are mixed developments. Both are expected to see revenue contribution from FY2008.

Sunshine said the total planned GFA for the Zhong Mou project - strategically located near the Civic District - is about 97,000 square metres. About 80 per cent will be allocated for residences and the rest commercial development.

The estimated average selling price is between 2,500 yuan and 3,500 yuan per square metre for residential space and about 4,000 yuan per square metre for commercial space.

As for the Yan Ming Hu project, the total planned GFA is about 274,000 square metres and will comprise deluxe residential with facilities for business conferences. The estimated average selling price for residential space is about 10,000 yuan per square metre.

Sunshine said the purchase will be satisfied from internal resources and borrowings.

Listed on the Singapore Exchange mainboard in March 2006, Sunshine is one of the rapidly growing property developers in Henan province and has successfully carved a niche in developing properties in second and third-tier China cities.

MapletreeLog to invest in Japan centre

MAPLETREE Logistics Trust is investing $92 million in a distribution centre in the Kanto region of Japan.

Announcing this yesterday, Mapletree Logistics Trust Management (MLTM), the manager of the trust, said that MapletreeLog, through its wholly owned subsidiary, has executed a conditional agreement eventually to acquire the beneficiary interest of the distribution centre, which is now under construction.

Completion of the acquisition is expected to be some time next year.

The deal will be accretive to MapletreeLog's distribution per unit (DPU) and the pro forma financial effect of the acquisition on the DPU for the financial year ended December 2006 would be an additional 0.16 Singapore cent per unit, MLTM said.

Given the relatively lower cost of borrowing in Japanese yen, the trust said it intends to fund the acquisition wholly by debt.

As at June 30, MapletreeLog has a portfolio of 58 logistics assets in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Japan with a total book value of about $2.1 billion.