Laguna Park owners mull lower sale price

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...55157,00.html?

Published October 19, 2009

Laguna Park owners mull lower sale price

By TEH SHI NING


OWNERS of units at Laguna Park, whose $1.2 billion collective sale bid failed last week, are now considering a lower sale price of between $950 million and $1 billion.

At between $950 million and $1 billion, the new price range works out to between $693 and $723 per square foot per plot ratio.

The new range works out to between $693 and $723 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), including an estimated $400 million payable to the state to raise the intensity of the site to the plot ratio of 2.8, and topping up the lease to a fresh 99-year term. This compares to $844 psf ppr at the reserve price of $1.2 billion.

These were some of the numbers discussed at a meeting of about 200 Laguna Park residents yesterday afternoon, called to consider the results of the failed tender and discuss possible options.

Even though two bids had been submitted by the close of tender last Tuesday, no buyer put down payment to seal the $1.2 billion deal.

Credo Real Estate, which is marketing the 528-unit leasehold Marine Parade project, said last week that one submission from an Indonesian-owned, locally incorporated company offered $1.728 billion - above the owners' reserve price.

But it withdrew its offer on Thursday, citing difficulties faced by its bankers in processing and remitting the funds to Singapore. The only other submission was from a prominent local developer, with whom Credo is now conducting negotiations.

Credo's managing director, Karamjit Singh, said that the owners now have till around mid-November to strike a deal with a buyer, before the collective sale agreement expires in December.

The sales committee will now need 80 per cent of the Laguna Park owners to agree to what is likely to be a lower sale price than their reserve, in order to close a deal.

Laguna Park has a land area of about 677,463 sq ft. Some 1,500 apartments with an average size of about 1,200 sq ft each can be built on the site.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...012166/1/.html

Laguna Park owners to consider selling at lower price

By Ng Baoying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 18 October 2009 2014 hrs


SINGAPORE : Owners of units in Laguna Park, whose tender closed unsuccessfully on Friday, are now considering selling at a lower price.

The new price is said to be between S$950 million and S$1 billion.

The development's marketing agent Credo said residents are likely to receive letters advising on the situation in the next two or three days.

Earlier, many property analysts said Laguna Park's initial S$1.2 billion reserve price was on the high side.

Residents of Marine Parade's Laguna Park streamed out of the gates at about 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon, after a 2.5-hour meeting to discuss the fate of the collective sale of the development.

Despite two bids being made when the tender closed last Tuesday, no buyer managed to put down a payment to seal the S$1.2 billion deal.

At that price, each owner would have received between S$2.1 million and S$2.3 million.

Residents MediaCorp approached all refused to come on camera, but off camera, it seems their views are mixed. While some are agreeable to accepting a lower price, other said they would rather wait for the market to pick up again before relaunching the collective sales process.

Some noted that while those present at the meeting were split into two camps, the entire meeting went by cordially.

They attributed this to the people management skills of the sales committee.

The question now is whether the sales committee will manage to garner the crucial 80 per cent consent level from its owners, with the lower price tag.

The sales committee has until December 19 to close a deal before the collective sale agreement expires.

If there is no deal by then, the entire collective sales process will have to be restarted again.

One local company, whose shareholders are based in Indonesia, more than matched the reserve price, at S$1.7billion.

But Credo said that by last Thursday evening, the firm decided to pull out because it could not get its bankers to provide the funds for the bid.

Credo said the second expression of interest came from a prominent local developer. MediaCorp understands the developer is now expected to further negotiate with the majority owners before settling on a firm price. - CNA/ms