UEM Sunrise to take on more ‘chewable’ projects in the future

PETALING JAYA: UEM Sunrise Bhd will be shifting towards smaller developments moving forward amid a slowdown in the property market.

“Across the board we will be executing developments in a more ‘chewable’ size, while our larger projects will be tested in locations with higher pricing, particularly the central region,“its managing director and CEO Anwar Syahrin Abdul Najib told the media at its briefing yesterday.

“We need to be careful, as we do not want to fall into the trap where we spend so much money and it gets tied up on infrastructure if the products don’t sell,“he added.

Meanwhile, he said the group is looking to utilise the proceeds from its Australian venture of AU$36 million (RM100.44 million) pending settlement and AU$125 million from the en-bloc disposal of its serviced residential component for further development opportunities in the country. At the same time, it is eyeing for more land overseas.

“If we can find another one, around the same tune between AU$50 million to AU$60 million that would give us the right the GDV (gross development value), maybe we can have one or two of those in Melbourne and another one in the UK that would be fine.”

Domestically, Anwar said UEM Sunrise is planning to dispose of RM400RM500 million worth of non-strategic land parcels as portfolio rebalancing remains as one its key strategies for the year ahead.

The group has identified land in Mersing and Kulai in Johor, Tapah in Perak, Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur and Seri Kembangan in Selangor.

In 2019, UEM Sunrise sold about RM429 million worth of non-strategic land and assets.

The group posted a net profit of RM126.25 million in its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 a 6.4 fold improvement over RM19.75 million reported in the same quarter of the previous year, attributed to the gain from its disposal of its St Kilda Road property in Melbourne, Australia.