CP Land joint venture for Rayong project
CP Land Plc, the property arm of Charoen Pokphand Group, will partner with one of China’s largest construction firms, Guangxi Construction Engineering Group, to jointly develop an industrial estate in Rayong by the end of the year with an initial spending of 10 billion baht.
CP Land president and chief executive Sunthorn Arunanondchai said Guangxi Construction will handle the construction of the project, and also market it to Chinese investors.
“We have been waiting to develop an industrial estate for a long time,” Mr Sunthorn said yesterday. “We want the best, a strong and heavyweight partner with a large business network, to help drive our industrial estate development plan.”
The joint venture agreement between CP Land and Guangxi Construction was signed in Guangxi, China, last week. They will set up a joint venture firm, CG Industrial Estate Co, with registered capital of 2 billion baht in Thailand this year. CP Land will hold at least 50% and the rest by the Chinese partner.
The industrial estate project will be also financed by two Chinese financial institutions, ICBC and Bank of China, which have a presence in Thailand, said Mr Sunthorn.
Named CP Industrial Estate Rayong, the project will be located on a plot of about 3,068 rai covering three subdistricts — Map Kha and Nikhom Pattana in Nikhom Pattana district, and Nong Lalok in Ban Khai district.
Under the development’s master plan, the estate will include an industrial estate area of 2,245 rai which will account for 73%, commercial area of 112 rai (2%), utilities sized 402 rai (13%) and green area and buffer zone of 309 rai (10%).
Target industries will comprise five categories — electronics, electric appliances and parts; automotive and auto parts; processed agricultural products and bioplastic; light industries like medical tools; and serviced industry and facilities.
Mr Sunthorn said Guangxi Construction is not a new face for CP Land as one of Chinese company’s subsidiaries had constructed many projects for CP Land, including condominiums in Trang and Hat Yai and a hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The subsidiary, Guangxi Construction Engineering Group Yian Thailand Co, was set up in Thailand in 2014 with registered capital of 50 million baht. It also built a sugar factory in Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi.
Mr Sunthorn said CP Land recently spent around 500 million baht to buy a non-performing hotel with 400 rooms in Chiang Rai from a financial institution to renovate and open next year or later.
In December 2017, it will open a new hotel, Fortune Grand Nakhon Si Thammarat, an 18-floor hotel with 316 rooms in Muang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat, on which it spent 885 million baht to develop.
It will be the third hotel CP Land opens this year after Fortune D Plus Khao Yai and Fortune D Loey with 79 rooms each with a combined investment of 176 million baht.
Next year there will be two new hotels, Fortune Rayong with 120 rooms and Fortune Buriram with 79 rooms. From 1989-2018, CP Land will have a total of 1,698 hotel rooms at 11 sites in nine provinces.
It will also spend more than 1 billion baht to build a new office building with 19 storeys and a lettable area of 40,000 square metre on a five-rai plot in North Park in Don Muang district.
Currently, it has 12 office buildings, three in Bangkok and nine in other provinces, with a combined lettable space of 360,000 sq m.
CP Land will also launch Khonkaen International Convention & Exposition in December this year, on which it invested 2 billion baht to develop. Plans are also afoot to develop the next convention centre in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
“We have various property developments in many provinces but Phuket,” he said. “We have missed Phuket, a province with one of the highest potentials.”