Strong base to steer growth
UEM Sunrise Bhd will be focusing on strengthening its fundamentals to steer the company towards a period of growth. This recent strategy was adopted to help the company weather challenging market conditions this year.
Last year was a very challenging period for property developers in Malaysia, UEM Sunrise included.
However, despite the uncertain market conditions coupled with the soft property market, UEM Sunrise managed to weather the storm, spurred by the launch of four new developments, the company’s innovative marketing campaign Signature Selection and its deepening presence in Australia.
In the central region of Malaysia, UEM Sunrise successfully launched Serene Heights in Bangi and Residensi Sefina Mont’Kiara in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
In the southern region, the company launched Estuari Gardens, the first phase of its maiden landed residential development in the exclusive enclave of Puteri Harbour in Iskandar Puteri.
On the international front, UEM Sunrise successfully launched Conservatory in Melbourne, Australia, a 42- storey residential development located on Mackenzie Street in Melbourne’s central business district ( CBD).
Its 252- room serviced apartment component was then sold to Ascendas Hospitality Trust Management Pte Ltd in December last year.
UEM Sunrise’s Australian ventures proved to be a success with Aurora Melbourne Central, the company’s maiden development in Melbourne, contributing to RM720mil in sales last year while Conservatory, its second project in the city, contributed RM620mil.
Located on La Trobe Street, Aurora Melbourne Central boasts 92 storeys of residential space, making it the tallest building in the CBD of Melbourne.
It has direct underground connection to the network, the Melbourne Central Station as well as the CBD’s largest continuous retail precinct comprising Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Emporium, Myer, David Jones, GPO and the Bourke Street Mall.
Conservatory, also located in the Melbourne CBD, offers a unique sense of tranquillity paired with a view of the Unesco World Heritagelisted Carlton Gardens.
Designed by award- winning Cox Architecture, the Living in the Sky concept includes 446 apartments of one-, two- and three- bedroom units and a penthouse all nestled within a 42- storey tower.
Along with ongoing developments, these four projects located in Malaysia’s southern and central regions and overseas contribute to property sales amounting to RM2.37bil, surpassing the company’s target of RM2bil for last year. This bolstered UEM Sunrise’s confidence given the generally soft local economy at the time.
To boost the company’s sales, in October last year, UEM Sunrise ran the Signature Selection marketing campaign that offered attractive packages for selected units in the southern and central regions.
This two- month long, first- ofits- kind marketing campaign successfully sold 129 units and contributed RM215mil.
To replicate the first campaign’s success, the company launched a second campaign on April 21 called Rendezvous in France – Signature Selection 2016.
The second campaign took place from April 1 to May 31 and featured an array of exclusive properties across highly soughtafter locations in Cyberjaya and Bangi in Selangor, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, and Iskandar Puteri, Johor, offering special packages.
As one of Malaysia’s leading property developers, UEM Sunrise has a social responsibility to and invests significantly into educational initiatives in the communities it shares a presence with.
UEM Sunrise started off the PINTAR Programme by adopting 13 primary and four secondary schools in Gelang Patah, Johor, in 2008. Last year, it added four more schools to the programme, including two KEMAS kindergartens.
Through the PINTAR Schools Adoption Programme, UEM Sunrise invested RM724,920 in its corporate social responsibility work last year.
This year, UEM Sunrise continues its efforts to deliver a diverse range of products with strong concepts and quality such as the newly launched Melia Residences ( Phase 1 to 3).
Iskandar Puteri will remain UEM Sunrise’s long- term growth driver in the southern region and it will continue to develop the area into the commercial and business engine of Iskandar Puteri and gateway of Iskandar Malaysia.
According to UEM Sunrise executive director Datuk Izzaddin Idris, the company foresees this year to be very challenging.
“Apart from the launch of its subsequent developments and clearing out existing inventories, UEM Sunrise will continue to collaborate with strategic partners as part of its growth strategy and to add value to its ongoing projects.
“In view of the current consumers’ sentiment and market demand, UEM Sunrise will also continue to foster organic growth via property- related businesses,” he says.
“The current property down cycle is an opportune time for us to concentrate on creating a recurring income base for the company by leveraging on our existing projects such as our retail businesses – Publika in Solaris Dutamas and Mall of Medini in Iskandar Puteri – as well as expanding our revenue from property management, project management leasing services and hospitality.”
In line with the Government’s initiatives to provide adequate and affordable homes for Malaysians, UEM Sunrise is continuing its efforts to provide affordable housing in the southern region.
In collaboration with Denia Development, UEM Sunrise is currently developing two affordable homes projects called Taman Nusantara and Nusantara Prima on 650 acres ( 263ha) of land in the southern region.
The company has been developing this plot of land since early 2000. As of December last year, a total of 3,830 units of affordable homes and shop offices have been delivered.
On its own, UEM Sunrise is developing more affordable homes in Nusa Bayu, Denai Nusantara and Gerbang Nusantara within the Iskandar Puteri area, offering 80, 1,109 and 4,752 units of mixed high- rise and landed affordable homes respectively.
In the central region, the company has obtained approval from the Selangor government through Lembaga Perumahan dan Hartanah Selangor to develop the affordable housing component under the Rumah SelangorKu Scheme as part of Serene Heights Bangi.
On June 7, UEM Sunrise completed and handed over its Rumah Mampu Milik Johor ( RMMJ) and Perumahan Komuniti Johor ( PKJ) property units as well as Kedai Kos Sederhana ( KKS) in Bayu Nusantara.
Sijil Layak Memiliki were also presented to eligible purchasers of the company’s latest affordable housing project Denai Nusantara.
UEM Sunrise has come a long way as a property developer, receiving a lot of recognition for its work in the property industry.
Most recently, the company emerged as the World Silver Winner at the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards 2016 in the Residential ( High- Rise) category for its 28 Mont’Kiara development in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
28 Mont’Kiara is an ultramodern development built on 5.81 acres ( 2.35ha) of freehold land and offers 460 apartment units in two 40- storey towers.
Izzaddin says that UEM Sunrise is pleased with the award and glad that the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence award recognises projects around the world that best encapsulate a balance of societal and property needs.
“It is a testament to our commitment to create sustainable and quality communities and developments. We are proud that our developments continue to rank among the top in the world, not only in terms of quality and design, but also in terms of serving the needs of the community,” he adds.
UEM Sunrise Bhd is a publiclisted company and one of Malaysia’s leading property developers.
It is the flagship company for township and property development businesses of UEM Group Bhd and Khazanah Nasional Bhd. UEM Group is wholly owned by Khazanah, the strategic investment fund of the Government.
The company has core competencies in macro township development; high- rise residential, commercial, retail and integrated developments; as well as property management and project and construction services.
In Malaysia, UEM Sunrise is the master developer of Iskandar Puteri ( formerly known as Nusajaya), one of the five flagship zones of Iskandar Malaysia, and is currently undertaking the development of the area into a regional city like no other.
Upon completion, Iskandar Puteri will become the largest fully integrated urban development in South- East Asia that will provide significant investment, financial and business opportunities for the economic growth of the region.
In the central region of Malaysia, UEM Sunrise is renowned for its Symphony Hills project in Cyberjaya, an exclusive residential development featuring the country’s first Connected Intelligent Community services as well as Serene Heights, an integrated township development in Bangi.
The company also has other award- winning, high- rise residential, commercial and mixed- use developments largely within Kuala Lumpur’s affluent Mont’Kiara enclave, the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Shah Alam and Seremban.
Internationally, UEM Sunrise’s presence extends to Vancouver, Canada, via its 4.8- acre ( 1.9ha) mixed- use development, Quintet at Minoru Boulevard City, and a recently acquired site in Alderbridge.
It also has a presence in Australia, where it commenced the construction of Aurora Melbourne Central in September last year, launched its second Melbourne CBD development known as Conservatory in October last year, and acquired its first city- fringe property at 412 St Kilda Road in July last year. The company also retains a land bank in Durban, South Africa.
UEM Sunrise is also the appointed project manager ( marketing) for developer M+ S Pte Ltd, a company owned by Khazanah and Temasek Pte Ltd for its Marina One and DUO mixeduse developments in Singapore.
For more information, visit www. uemsunrise. com.