TEBRAU BAY ON TRACK TO BE MAJOR ATTRACTION
Iskandar Waterfront City and Greenland expect launch of first phase of commercial units soon
AHMAD FAIRUZ OTHMAN JOHOR BARU news@nst.com.my
TEBRAU Bay, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd’s (IWC) joint-venture (JV) development with China’s Greenland Group, will soon see the first phase of its commercial units being launched.
IWC chairman Datuk Ayub Mion said the project, located on 51.8ha of coastal land, was progressing well and shaping up to be a major attraction in Johor.
“IWC has attractive tracts of waterfront land with developments that are progressing well.
“A prime example is our JV with Greenland to develop 51.8ha of waterfront land in Johor, fronting Singapore.
“The sales gallery was launched at the end of last year, and the first retail units will be launched soon,” said Ayub in a statement after IWC’s annual general meeting, here, yesterday.
Greenland bought the land from IWC two years ago for RM2.4 billion in one of the biggest land deals by a local company with a China group at the time. The deal kick-started the development of the RM3 billion waterfront city in Tebrau Bay on the eastern corridor.
Under Phase One of Tebrau Bay, there will be a snow world theme park, an opera house, a hospital specialising in Chinese traditional medicine and a school.
The deal involving Tebrau Bay was Greenland’s second investment in Iskandar Malaysia after a RM600 million development on a 5.5ha site in Danga Bay with Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH).
On a separate matter, IWC said a merger agreement with holding company IWH, which was announced on May 5, would lead to the setting up of one of the largest listed strategic master developers on Bursa Malaysia.
“Subject to shareholder approval and all other regulatory approvals, this (the merge agreement) will see IWH consolidating the group’s landbank and assuming the listing status of IWC to establish one of the largest listed strategic master property developers on Bursa Malaysia,” it said.
Under the agreement, IWH will acquire the remaining 61.7 per cent stake in IWC at an offer price of RM1.50 per IWC share, to be economies of scale and building a dominant position in the markets we operate in. We hope to include Thai AirAsia in our consolidated accounts beginning the second quarter,” Fernandes said in a statement.
AirAsia Group’s load factor was up four points to 89 per cent in the first quarter. Operations in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines all reported higher load factors in the period.
The group’s net gearing ratio continues to show improvement quarter-on-quarter and year-onyear, down to 1.22 times at the satisfied via issuance of IWH shares on the basis of one new IWH share for one existing IWC share.
Thereafter, IWH would assume IWC’s listing status. The merger scheme forms part of a rationalisation and restructuring exercise undertaken by IWH to consolidate its landbank to create greater synergies and economies of scale.
The proposed rationalisation and restructuring will see the injection of 1,457ha land with an open market value of RM4.3 billion into IWH through definitive agreements with the respective vendors, namely Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo (IWH director-cum-executive vice-chairman), Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (the investment arm of the Johor government) and other state entities within 60 days from the date of the merger agreement.
Upon completion of the corporate exercise, IWH will have about 2,741ha land, here, with an estimated value of about RM30 billion, as assessed by the appointed independent valuers. end of first quarter from 1.33 times as at the end of fourth quarter last year, following the completion of the capital injection exercise in January.
“AirAsia Group is growing fast this year, adding 29 new planes for a total group fleet of 201 aircraft by year-end (127 excluding associates’ aircraft in Thailand, India and Japan).
“This is the most number of aircraft we have added in four years, demonstrating our confidence in the competitive environment in Asia,” he said. Amir Hisyam Rasid