S P Setia to launch RM350mil residential project in Penang

PETALING JAYA: SP Setia Bhd will soon launch its latest project, a 9-acre freehold residential development in Penang with a gross development value (GDV) of RM350mil.

The property developer, formerly a construction company, has 150 acres of undeveloped land in Penang.

Nine acres are being developed into a freehold residential project comprising apartments averaging 1,100 sq ft within a price range of RM800,000 to RM1mil per unit.

The development will be launched in the last quarter of the year, its acting deputy president and chief operating officer Datuk Wong Tuck Wai told StarBiz at the Jet Set contest which was part of the Setia 40th Anniversary Campaign. “Most of the approvals have been obtained.”

The campaign entailed a contest open to all S P Setia’s property buyers based in Malaysia, who signed their sale and purchase agreement between Jan 1 and Dec 1, 2015.

There would be three draw events – Sept 19, Oct 31 and Dec 12 – for buyers who paid at least RM201,000 per unit of real estate.

Eighteen winners stood to win a trip for two to London, Melbourne, Nanning, Ho Chi Ming, Singapore and Langkawi.

S P Setia has a total land bank of 4,200 acres in Malaysia and overseas, all of which constitute a collective GDV of RM70bil.

“We are also looking to strengthen our presence in Singapore and Australia seeing as our properties there have gained traction,” Wong said. “We are eyeing Melbourne as well as other cities. If there is the opportunity, we may even go into the suburbs to develop a township.”

In Singapore, S P Setia’s properties are the luxury apartments 18 Woodsville and high-rise residential development EcoSanctuary, and in Australia, high density apartment building Fulton Lane in the Central Business District and luxury apartments Parque Melbourne.

Wong said the property developer was on track to achieve its sales target of RM4bil for the financial year ended Oct 31, which will be changed to Dec 31 to follow the accounts of its major shareholder Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

The target for the year was initially set at RM4.6bil as S P Setia achieved RM4.3bil last year, but scaled back on the soft economic environment.

“All developers are faced with a tight lending regime. We need to wait for banks to approve loans, although the capturing of bookings has been on track,” Wong said.

On the weaker ringgit, Wong said the Battersea Power Station project in London would not be badly affected.

“We have a great chief financial officer who has done all the hedging for us, hence the investments are well mitigated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wong said there was no news on the takeover of S P Setia by Sime Darby Bhd.

“So far, we have not heard anything on the matter,” he said.