Remember me
Jeffrey Cheah, founder and executive chairman of Sunway.
Ian Teh for Forbes AsiaSunway Group—controlled by Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah—is buying Singapore developer MCL Land for S$739 million ($578 million) from Hongkong Land Holdings as it deepens investments into one of the world’s most resilient real estate markets.
“This acquisition marks a decisive expansion of our footprint in one of Asia’s most competitive property markets,” Sarena Cheah, executive deputy chairman of Kuala Lumpur-based Sunway, said in a statement.
Sunway has been stepping up investments in the city-state, which has recorded robust residential sales in recent months despite prevailing property curbs. Last month, the company and its Singaporean partner Sing Holdings submitted the highest bid of S$623.9 million for a residential site in Chuan Grove in northeastern Singapore, its second site in the area.
“Our recent investments, including the Chuan Grove sites, underscores our confidence in Singapore’s long-term fundamentals and our commitment to scale with purpose,” Sarena, daughter of Sunway founder and executive chairman Jeffrey Cheah, said.
With the purchase price of the Chuan Grove plots totalling S$1.3 billion, Sunway and its partner plan to amalgamate the sites into a single integrated development of 1,055 units across five blocks of 27-story residential towers
The acquisition of MCL Land provides Sunway “a robust platform to accelerate growth not only in Singapore but across key regional markets,” Sarena said. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, subject to standard conditions.
For Hongkong Land, the divestment will bolster the Singapore-listed developer’s balance sheet. “This transaction sees us continue to sharpen our portfolio focus and recycle capital to what we do best, which is developing and managing ultra-premium integrated commercial properties in Asian gateway cities,” Michael Smith, chief executive of Hongkong Land, said.
Sunway was transformed by Jeffrey Cheah from an obscure tin-mining company over the five decades into one of Malaysia’s biggest conglomerates with interests in construction, education, healthcare, infrastructure and real estate. With a real-time net worth of $4.3 billion, Cheah is among the country’s wealthiest.