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Published July 15, 2011

CapitaLand eyes buildings in Ophir-Rochor project

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) CapitaLand, which is project manager for the Khazanah-Temasek mixed-development project in the Ophir-Rochor area, is eyeing the possibility of buying some components of the project or having a call option to do so.

CapitaLand Commercial's chief executive Chong Lit Cheong said yesterday: 'We are in the midst of discussing with both Khazanah and Temasek arising from this involvement by us what our take-away (can potentially be). Do we have the right to purchase some of the buildings, the call option for some of those things? It's not been finalised yet. So we are still in a discussion.'

'I think clearly we would be interested to have some take-away because if we are going to (make) so much upfront effort to do a very good building, obviously we want to enjoy the upside. So that is our take. We will discuss with both Khazanah and Temasek and negotiate something good for our project,' Mr Chong said at a media and analysts briefing held by CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) to release its Q2 results.

CCT also announced that Mitsubishi Estate Asia has taken a 10 per cent stake in the redevelopment of the Market Street Car Park into a Grade A office tower. CapitaLand's stake in the project has been lowered to 50 per cent from 60 per cent initially.

The Ophir-Rochor project will be a mixed-use development with hotel, residential, office and retail components. It is one of two projects being undertaken by M+S Pte Ltd, a 60:40 joint venture between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek Holdings, as part of the land swap deal between Singapore and Malaysia that saw Tanjong Pagar Railway Station relocated to Woodlands recently.

M+S will also develop an office and residential project in the Marina South area, for which Mapletree Investments, a fully owned unit of Temasek, will be project manager.

When asked yesterday if it was eyeing a stake in any component of the Marina development, Mapletree said it was not an owner in the project and hence not authorised to comment.

CapitaLand's Mr Chong also touched on CapitaLand Commercial's plans.

In Singapore, the group will increase its office footprint in the CBD as well as regional hubs. CapitaLand and its units CapitaMalls Asia and CapitaMall Trust will develop a retailffice project next to Jurong East MRT Station.

The group will look at the upcoming state tender for an office plot next to CCT's Capital Tower on Robinson Road.

'We are (also) interested in looking at existing properties which can be redeveloped or enhanced or (with) potential for change of use,' Mr Chong said.

Overseas, CapitaLand Commercial is working on increasing its presence especially for mixed-development projects in places such as Malaysia (KL, Cyberjaya, Petaling Jaya, Iskandar), India (Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai), and Japan (Tokyo Metropolitan). The group has joint-venture projects with Mitsubishi Estate in Japan (a residential-office project in Shinjuku, Tokyo), Singapore (a condo project near Bishan MRT Station) and Vietnam (a residential project).

And CapitaLand hopes to leverage on its relationship with Mitsubishi Estate, which has over 30 major buildings in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district. CapitaLand is eyeing opportunities to participate in Mitsubishi's redevelopment programmes for some of these buildings.