German fund pays $744m for Singapore office block

German fund pays $744m for Singapore office block 

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent 
RECORD HIGH: The price paid for the Robinson Road building, due to be completed next year, translates to a high of $3,125 psf. 
 
THE residential property sector may be cooling but the office sector is still relatively hot.
United States investment bank Lehman Brothers and the regional arm of Japan-based Kajima have just sold an office building development at 71 Robinson Road to a German buyer.

The price was a hefty $743.75 million, sources say, though the sum was not officially disclosed.

In October 2006, they had paid just $163.4 million for the site. Last September, the pair said they would spend about $450 million to develop it.

Kajima will complete the building as the contractor before it is delivered to the buyer, German real estate asset manager Commerz Real’s real estate fund hausInvest global.

The fully-owned unit of Commerzbank said yesterday that it is buying the site for an undisclosed sum from the partnership of Kajima Overseas Asia and Lehman Brothers. It said it wants to ride on the ongoing growth in Singapore’s office sector.

The fund’s price translates to a record $3,125 per sq ft (psf), based on 238,000 sq ft of net lettable area. The nearby Hitachi Tower was sold early this year for $811 million or $2,901 psf.

The 15-storey top grade building, in the Central Business District, has a gross floor area of 280,000 sq ft and is due to be completed in the second half of next year.

Jones Lang LaSalle said they had embarked on a global marketing campaign after the sellers appointed them to look for a buyer late last year.

There were other contenders, said its managing director for Singapore and South-east Asia, Mr Chris Fossick. He said they are now in serious talks with a number of parties wishing to lease space in the building.

‘There is keen interest in the Singapore office market, particularly from international investment funds which take a medium to long-term view of the market,’ said Mr Fossick.

Commerz Real management board member Hans-Joachim Kuehl said they expect to attract rents of about $15 psf.

Commerz Real, which was advised by CB Richard Ellis, is no stranger to the office market in Singapore. Late last year, the same fund hausInvest global bought 78 Shenton Way for $650 million, or $1,857 psf.

Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Boutique property firm proves initiative works - Singapore

Boutique property firm proves initiative works  - Singapore
SUCCESS STORY: Dr Wong, who set up his company Genesis-Alliance with Contact Singapore’s help, was cited as one of the programme’s early successes. — PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
 
AN EARLY success story in Contact Singapore’s 11-year history is Genesis-Alliance.
The boutique property and lifestyle company is now building 31 ‘ultra high-end’ villas in Sentosa and has opened the region’s first Armani/Casa home furnishing store in Raffles Hotel.

Malaysian businessman Derek Wong, whose net worth is estimated to be $150 million, set up Genesis-Alliance after he met with officials of the Singapore Tourism Board, Economic Development Board and other agencies.

The company currently employs 20 people, including 12 Singaporeans, at its Wisma Atria office.

Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Wanted: Rich, foreign entrepreneurs to start businesses in Singapore

Wanted: Rich, foreign entrepreneurs to start businesses in Singapore 

EDB joins in the running of MOM’s programme to woo overseas talent to work in the Republic

By Chua Hian Hou 
 
THE Economic Development Board (EDB), which has been hugely successful in attracting big foreign companies to set up job-creating operations in Singapore, is now turning its sights on rich individuals.
It has teamed up with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to scour the globe for rich, entrepreneurial foreigners to start businesses in Singapore - creating vital new jobs.

Together, EDB and MOM will run Contact Singapore - an 11-year-old programme previously run by MOM alone. Contact Singapore’s main objective was getting talented individuals to work in the Republic.

The expanded brief, with EDB on board, will include attracting ‘overseas entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals who could potentially invest and do business in Singapore’, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng yesterday.

Mr Wong was the guest-of-honour at the relaunch of the programme, which attracted about 130 participants from private banks, consulting firms and business networks.

EDB managing director Ko Kheng Hwa said they want ‘established business leaders or entrepreneurs in their part of the world who would bring with them business activities and investments that would generate economic wealth and good jobs for Singapore’.

Contact Singapore will also be setting up three new offices in San Francisco, Beijing and Sydney to add to its current four - Boston, Chennai, London and Shanghai - to help with this increased role. The offices will be open by the end of the year.

EDB has been successfully attracting multi-nationals to Singapore since it was set up in 1961. Major successes include tech giant Hewlett-Packard and energy group Shell.

Contact Singapore executive director Ng Siew Kiang said while these efforts have undoubtedly boosted Singapore’s economy, the Government is well aware of the vital role that rich individuals and business families in the region play in their home economies.

There had been a concern that Singapore was missing out if it failed to seek out these individuals and business families. This prompted Contact Singapore to begin looking at this late last year, offering perks, such as tax incentives, ‘tailored to the investment that the individual is putting into Singapore’, said Ms Ng. This is the same approach the Government takes with corporate investors.

One of Contact Singapore’s early success stories was Malaysian businessman Derek Wong. After talks with agencies including the Singapore Tourism Board and the EDB, Dr Wong, who has an estimated net worth of $150 million, set up Genesis-Alliance, a boutique property and lifestyle firm.

Genesis, which has 20 staff members at its Wisma Atria office including 12 Singaporeans, is now building 31 ‘ultra high-end’ villas on Sentosa. It has since opened the region’s first Armani/Casa home furnishing store in Raffles Hotel, said Dr Wong.

While Contact Singapore has enjoyed other successes besides Dr Wong, Ms Ng declined to give numbers as the initiative is still ‘fairly new’. Contact Singapore has also launched a new job website, and plans to organise events to bring together foreign talent as well as Singaporeans working overseas.

Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Singapore PropNex takes home buyers to court over fee dispute

Singapore PropNex takes home buyers to court over fee dispute 

Case hangs on whether flat buyers who deal without agents should pay a commission, too

By Tan Hui Yee 
 
A COUPLE who bought a home and refused to pay the seller’s agent the 1 per cent commission are being taken to court by a property company.
PropNex associate director Ricky Low Yong Sern is seeking about $4,000 in commission or a service fee in a case that is likely to turn the spotlight on the issue of whether home buyers should pay a fee to sellers’ agents.

He was the exclusive agent handling the sale of a terrace house in Whampoa built over 30 years ago and classified as a Housing Board flat.

Marketing specialist Loh Yi Min, 29, and his wife, polytechnic lecturer Ariel Wee, 33, bought it for $400,000 in April last year. They had acted on their own without engaging an agent.

In documents submitted to court, Mr Low claimed that he had a right to collect a commission as he had exclusive rights to market the property. He also claimed that he had provided services to the buyers.

However, the couple refused to sign the commission agreement when they inked the sale last year. They claim they had made no deal to pay him a fee in the first place.

Both sides will attempt to reach an agreement when they attend a court dispute resolution session next month.

This is the first lawsuit of its kind started by eight-year-old PropNex.

The issue of commissions payable by independent buyers, or buyers who deal without agents, has been hotly debated in recent years.

While there is no law fixing the fees payable, property sellers typically pay their agents a 2 per cent fee, while buyers pay their agents a 1 per cent fee.

Many agents marketing HDB flats also charge independent buyers a 1 per cent fee, but this is not practised in private property deals. Property veterans said this disparity was due to the lower prices of HDB flats, which amount to a lower commission for agents.

Some independent buyers have complained that sellers’ agents inform them that they have to pay a commission just before the purchase documents are signed, leaving them with little time to find out about their rights.

Once the buyers sign the commission agreements, they are bound to pay the fee.

However, agents have countered that independent buyers often leave the paperwork to the sellers’ agents but refuse to pay a service fee.

Major real estate agencies contacted by The Straits Times have varied responses to such situations, although all maintain that independent buyers of HDB flats should pay a fee.

HSR property group chief executive Patrick Liew said his company takes three to four independent buyers to the Small Claims Tribunal each year for similar claims and has won payment each time.

ERA Singapore’s assistant vice-president Eugene Lim said his company does not take independent buyers to court when no commission agreements are signed.

Meanwhile, the Consumers Association of Singapore has, in recent years, questioned the practice of agents taking commissions from both buyer and seller in the same transaction, citing a possible conflict of interest.
 

Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Singapore LTA looking into seat belts for minibuses

Singapore LTA looking into seat belts for minibuses
 
It is consulting motor industry; parents may have to bear the costs

By Teh Joo Lin & Lee Pei Qi 
BELTED UP: The United World College of South East Asia and many other international schools here require all students - like these two first-grade pupils - to wear seat belts in their buses. — PHOTO: UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF SOUTH EAST ASIA
 
MINIBUSES that ferry children to school may have to be fitted with seat belts.
The Land Transport Authority is considering the move after looking at the experiences of other countries.

The motor industry here is being consulted in a bid to come up with a seat belt design that can be installed in smaller school buses at an affordable price.

International safety experts could be engaged as part of further studies. These studies have been narrowed down to the safety features needed for smaller buses, such as the one involved in a fatal accident on Thursday, said an LTA spokesman.

She was referring to the death of Russell Koh, eight, who was flung out of a minibus on the way to school in a collision with two cars at the junction of Yio Chu Kang Road and Gerald Drive.

In the past two years, 15 children were hurt in accidents involving school buses, but only slightly, according to the police.

The LTA did not touch on the need for seat belts in bigger buses, but in a Forum page reply last year, it said studies showed that the size and design of such vehicles allowed them to absorb the impact of collisions more effectively.

Several international schools here, however, have already acted on the issue.

The United World College of South East Asia, the Singapore American School and The Australian International School require buses ferrying their students to be fitted with seat belts.

Ms Joy Stevenson, communications director of the United World College of South East Asia, said: ‘ It is nothing out of the ordinary. It is simply safer and I guess, as an international school, we also carried over pre-existing rules in our respective countries… We grew up with the idea that you have to buckle up.’

Strapping up on minibuses is already compulsory in places such as Britain, according to the country’s Department of Transport website.

Last November, new safety rules were also proposed for school buses in the United States, including one that required all new small buses to be equipped with belts which go across the chest and the lap, instead of the current requirement for lap-belts only.

Some local bus operators here have already outfitted their fleets with seat belts because of the requirements of international schools.

Ms Lilian Sern, 53, owner of Mei Lian Transport Services, spent $800 to $1,000 per bus to install seat belts in all her 12 minibuses at Soon Chow Workshop.

She said: ‘Schoolchildren can be very mischievous and run around in the bus. The seat belts can keep them in their seats and ensure their safety.’

But when the same buses call at local schools, where using seat belts is not mandatory, the operators pack in more children un-belted and charge lower fees.

One bus operator said the fees charged for every two students from an international school is equal to those for three kids in local schools.

Singapore School Transport Association chairman Wong Ann Lin said seat belts were ‘definitely a good safety measure’ but operators would have to pay to have them fitted and carry fewer passengers.

A minibus, for example, would be able to seat 10 passengers belted up, instead of 15 without.

Even if seat belts become compulsory for minibuses, children may not necessarily use them, he added.

Mr Wong said: ‘These bus operators might eventually not be willing to ferry the students as they will definitely be running their business at a loss.’

The costs could eventually be passed on to parents, who now pay between $65 and $175 a month.

At least one parent is all for seat belts.

Russell’s father, Mr Colin Koh, had said after his son’s death: ‘I really hope they make seat belts mandatory because I have two other children.

‘I cannot let the same happen to them.’
Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Singapore LTA looking into seat belts for minibuses

Singapore LTA looking into seat belts for minibuses
 
It is consulting motor industry; parents may have to bear the costs

By Teh Joo Lin & Lee Pei Qi 
BELTED UP: The United World College of South East Asia and many other international schools here require all students - like these two first-grade pupils - to wear seat belts in their buses. — PHOTO: UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF SOUTH EAST ASIA
 
MINIBUSES that ferry children to school may have to be fitted with seat belts.
The Land Transport Authority is considering the move after looking at the experiences of other countries.

The motor industry here is being consulted in a bid to come up with a seat belt design that can be installed in smaller school buses at an affordable price.

International safety experts could be engaged as part of further studies. These studies have been narrowed down to the safety features needed for smaller buses, such as the one involved in a fatal accident on Thursday, said an LTA spokesman.

She was referring to the death of Russell Koh, eight, who was flung out of a minibus on the way to school in a collision with two cars at the junction of Yio Chu Kang Road and Gerald Drive.

In the past two years, 15 children were hurt in accidents involving school buses, but only slightly, according to the police.

The LTA did not touch on the need for seat belts in bigger buses, but in a Forum page reply last year, it said studies showed that the size and design of such vehicles allowed them to absorb the impact of collisions more effectively.

Several international schools here, however, have already acted on the issue.

The United World College of South East Asia, the Singapore American School and The Australian International School require buses ferrying their students to be fitted with seat belts.

Ms Joy Stevenson, communications director of the United World College of South East Asia, said: ‘ It is nothing out of the ordinary. It is simply safer and I guess, as an international school, we also carried over pre-existing rules in our respective countries… We grew up with the idea that you have to buckle up.’

Strapping up on minibuses is already compulsory in places such as Britain, according to the country’s Department of Transport website.

Last November, new safety rules were also proposed for school buses in the United States, including one that required all new small buses to be equipped with belts which go across the chest and the lap, instead of the current requirement for lap-belts only.

Some local bus operators here have already outfitted their fleets with seat belts because of the requirements of international schools.

Ms Lilian Sern, 53, owner of Mei Lian Transport Services, spent $800 to $1,000 per bus to install seat belts in all her 12 minibuses at Soon Chow Workshop.

She said: ‘Schoolchildren can be very mischievous and run around in the bus. The seat belts can keep them in their seats and ensure their safety.’

But when the same buses call at local schools, where using seat belts is not mandatory, the operators pack in more children un-belted and charge lower fees.

One bus operator said the fees charged for every two students from an international school is equal to those for three kids in local schools.

Singapore School Transport Association chairman Wong Ann Lin said seat belts were ‘definitely a good safety measure’ but operators would have to pay to have them fitted and carry fewer passengers.

A minibus, for example, would be able to seat 10 passengers belted up, instead of 15 without.

Even if seat belts become compulsory for minibuses, children may not necessarily use them, he added.

Mr Wong said: ‘These bus operators might eventually not be willing to ferry the students as they will definitely be running their business at a loss.’

The costs could eventually be passed on to parents, who now pay between $65 and $175 a month.

At least one parent is all for seat belts.

Russell’s father, Mr Colin Koh, had said after his son’s death: ‘I really hope they make seat belts mandatory because I have two other children.

‘I cannot let the same happen to them.’
Source : Straits Times  - 29 April 2008

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Contact Singapore widens scope to woo investors

Contact Singapore widens scope to woo investors
A MINISTRY of Manpower (MOM) initiative to attract foreign talent and overseas Singaporeans to Singapore will now be jointly led by the Economic Development Board (EDB).
This means that the initiative, Contact Singapore, will now broaden its scope to include investors, while it previously targeted only skilled workers and students.

Contact Singapore, which has an existing network of six offices internationally, can also tap the EDB’s 19 offices in major cities around the world.

According to the executive director of Contact Singapore, Ng Siew Kiang, it will focus on attracting talent and investors in high-growth industries here, such as the finance and manufacturing sectors, to help ease the demand for labour.

‘It is not so much a numbers game, but bringing in the quality professionals and investors into Singapore,’ she said.

‘Strong employment growth has led to a tight labour market, especially for skilled professionals and high-end talent,’ said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Wong Kan Seng, who attended the event.

‘We will need to redouble our efforts to attract more global talent to meet our employment needs,’ he added.
 
New measures were also introduced to reach out to global talent who are keen to work in Singapore.

They will be able to make use of an interactive job portal, as well as sign up for events where Singapore-based employers meet overseas professionals and students.

Overseas Singaporeans will also be targeted at events where they will be updated on employment opportunities back home and to meet prospective employers.

Source : Business Times  - 29 April 2008

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Record $3,125 psf paid for office building in volatile market - Singapore

Record $3,125 psf paid for office building in volatile market - Singapore

Commerzbank unit buys 71 Robinson Rd for $743.8m
By ARTHUR SIM

(SINGAPORE) Commerz Real, a fully-owned subsidiary of Germany’s Commerzbank, has bought 71 Robinson Road, setting a record in the process and perhaps heralding a new wave of office deals.
 
 
The price paid for the building, which was owned by a partnership of Lehman Brothers and Kajima Overseas Asia, was not disclosed by Commerz Real. But sources say it was $3,125 per sq ft of net lettable area (NLA), or $743.8 million. This is 7.7 per cent higher than the $2,900 psf of NLA paid for Hitachi Tower in January.

Lehman/Kajima acquired the building in October 2006 from SingTel for $163.4 million. A year later, the partnership said it would spend about $450 million, including the land cost of $163.4 million, to redevelop 71 Robinson Road into a 280,000 sq ft (gross floor area) building to be completed by mid-2009.

While the selling price represents a healthy capital appreciation, it is understood that the acquisition comes with a coupon payment by Lehman/Kajima to Commerz Real amounting to 4.5 per cent - or about the investment yield for Commerz Real for the duration of construction.

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) was appointed by Lehman/ Kajima to market the development in late-2007. JLL managing director (SEA) Chris Fossick said marketing was done globally, with interest from both Singapore and international funds.

In terms of leasing, Mr Fossick said there are no pre-commitments yet but talks are going on with several parties.

Commerz Real was advised by CB Richard Ellis. Commerz Real management board member Hans- Joachim Kuehl said: ‘We have seen strong interest from major financial institutions in the development and expect to attract rents in the region of $15 psf.’

The acquisition was made by Commerz Real’s real estate fund hausInvest global which also owns 78 Shenton Way, bought in December 2007 for $650 million or $1,857 psf of NLA.

It is worth noting that 78 Shenton Way was sold by a joint venture between Credit Suisse and CLSA funds after they paid $348.5 million for it earlier in the same year.

JLL’s Mr Fossick believes this year could see more such assets held by opportunistic funds go to core funds like Commerz Real.

By his reckoning, 2007 saw core funds acquire at least 10 office assets held by opportunistic funds. Larger deals include that by CLSA, which sold the SIA Building to German pension fund SEB.

Mr Fossick believes at least another 13 office assets could be targets for core funds, including DBS Towers 1 and 2. ‘We could look back on 2008 and still see quite a lot of transactions despite the global credit crunch,’ he said.
Source : Business Times  - 29 April 2008

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The Russians are coming, with M’sian firm in tow - Singapore

The Russians are coming, with M’sian firm in tow - Singapore

New owners of Dunham-Bush want to move HQ to S’pore, list here
By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) Mikhail Bolotin, one of Russia’s richest men, reportedly paid US$100 million in June last year for Dunham-Bush in Malaysia, got it delisted and is now moving the company’s headquarters to Singapore. He is seeking a listing on the stock exchange here to raise US$1 billion.
 
Mr Addink: Dunham-Bush aims to increase its revenues to US$800 million in three to five years 
Vladimir Korjevski, a director of Dunham-Bush, a profitable global manufacturer of commercial and industrial air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment which was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, told BT yesterday that the company is already taking the first step in moving its global sales and marketing office across the Causeway.

The company, which was set up in 1894 by American owners and has a Singapore office, aims to set up its regional and global HQ here by the end of the year. It hopes to get a listing on the Singapore Exchange by 2010 - which could be a first because currently there is no Russian-controlled company listed on the SGX.

Phuar Boon Hock, Dunham-Bush’s vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region in Singapore, said the company’s officials, along with the local branch of VTB Bank (the former Moscow Narodny Bank), are in talks with the Economic Development Board and International Enterprise Singapore to discuss its expansion and tax incentives.

Jeffrey Low, the bank’s local head for Russian business, disclosed that Dunham-Bush has already inked a Memorandum of Understanding with VTB here to arrange a US$50 million financing to support the company’s regional operations which include key markets in South-east Asia, China, India and the Middle East.

Dunham-Bush, controlled by the Berjaya Group in the 15 years before the latest change of hands, believes Singapore will offer the company a more strategic location to expand in the global markets - and a public listing here will make it better known internationally, according to Mr Korjevski who was in Singapore for a corporate roadshow.

Dr Bolotin (he has a PhD in science), listed as one of the 100 wealthiest individuals in Russia in Forbes magazine’s latest rankings, is reportedly linked to former Russian president Vladimir Putin and owns Russia’s largest heavy industrial and agricultural equipment group, Promtractor.

Promtractor has turnover of more than US$1.5 billion yearly.

Since the early 1990s, the 46-year old Dr Bolotin and his partners have also been building up the air-conditioning business in Russia through Ipokrom which boasts sales of US$2.6 billion last year.

The acquisition of Dunham-Bush was made through Agromash, Dr Bolotin’s holding company which, according to Rob Addink, Dunham-Bush’s executive director for global sales & marketing, was Dunham-Bush’s distributor in Russia for 12 years.

Dunham-Bush has manufacturing operations in Malaysia, the United States, the United Kingdom and China. It turned in an estimated sales of US$163 million for the year ending March 2008.

Mr Addink said under its new owner, the company aims to increase its revenues to US$800 million in three to five years through organic growth and acquisitions.

In Singapore, Dunham-Bush has provided cooling systems for the Gateway Twin Towers, Pontiac Marina, Marina Square, CPF Building, KK Hospital and Circle Line-Stage 3 Subway.

Across the Causeway, the prime minister’s residence in Putrajaya, KL International Airport, Marriott Hotel Putrajaya and UTM University Malaysia are among others that have installed Dunham-Bush systems.

The company also sells its systems and equipment in China, India, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
Source : Business Times  - 29 April 2008

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New S$21m St Andrew’s Autism Centre to be built at Singapore Elliot Road

New S$21m St Andrew’s Autism Centre to be built at Singapore Elliot Road

By Hasnita Majid, 

SINGAPORE: A new S$21-million centre catering to autistic people up to 55 years old will be built in the East Coast area.

The St Andrew’s Autism Centre will look at the comprehensive needs of people with autism, including education, social skills training and recreation. It will also prepare them for employment.

The centre will be located at a two-hectare area along Elliot Road, the site of the former St Andrew’s Centre Hospital.

The new centre will have specially-equipped classes and daily training rooms, a sensory gym, music therapy and dance rooms, a library including a toy library, and a domestic science lab.

It will also have sheltered workshops, medical and assessment centres, as well as sports and outdoor play facilities. Family members can also access services such as counselling and autism-support training.

Currently, the St Andrew’s Autism Centre is situated at the St Andrew’s Community Hospital in Simei. It caters to autistic kids and youths up to 18 years old.

Although there are 18 special schools with a total enrolment of 1,200 children and youths with autism, only three schools are autism-specific.

While there are no actual figures for the adult autism population in Singapore, what is known is that services for them are inadequate. There are an estimated 30,000 people with autism in Singapore, but only one in 25 are served in the school system. - CNA/vm
Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 29 April 2008

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