Recently, there has been a reshuffling where Axis has named Nabhesh Khanna as chief executive officer Nabhesh is an Indian national who had over 18 years of experience, including two years of production experience in industrial products in multinational companies.

Meanwhile, Managing director Datuk Dr Aw Yuan Meng had been redesignated vice-chairman

Mah Sing Group Bhd has been named “Best Developer” in the Euromoney Real Estate Awards 2009 organised by Euromoney Liquid Real Estate magazine.The award canvasses the opinions of real estate developers, advisors, financial institutions, investors and end-users worldwide.

Mah Sing group managing director and chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said in a statement the company was gratified to win the award for the second year running.

Among the potential REITs that may list on Bursa Malaysia next year are Sunway City Bhd’s (SunCity) REIT and Singapore‘s CapitaLand Ltd REIT. (Currently, Malaysia has 13 REITs listed on Bursa Malaysia with an estimated market capitalisation of RM4.1 billion as at January 2009.)

According to REITs experts, the present high yields of #9% of Reits are deterring others from doing the listing as they fear that  as they will not be able to sustain the high yields.

As for SunCity Reit:SUNWAY City (SunCity) Bhd plans to inject RM4 billion real estate into its investment trust (REIT). It is speculated that SunCity may inject Sunway Pyramid Mall, Sunway Resort Hotel, Sunway Pyramid Hotel, Menara Sunway, Sunway University college and Monash University campus in Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Sunway Carnival Mall in Penang and Tambun Hypermarket in Ipoh, Perak into the REIT. These properties currently command an average of 6-7 per cent yield per annum. Other properties which might be included are Wisma Denmark in Kuala Lumpur, Sunway Medical Centre, KL South shopping mall in Cheras, and four new office towers in Bandar Sunway.

However, SunCity is still weighing its option of whether to list on Bursa Malaysia or via reverse takeovers in Singapore or Australia.

Trading firm Itochu Corp plans to buy Nippon Residential Investment Corp and merge it with its own real estate investment trust to make the fourth-largest listed REITItochu plans to combine Nippon Residential with its REIT, Advance Residence Investment Corp, to improve investment efficiency. The deal would be the first merger of REITs in Japan, which would make the combined company the fourth-largest listed REIT, with assets of about 390 billion yen.

[Nikkei Daily Business(28/7/2009)]

Am ARA REIT Managers Sdn Bhd , property Manager announced the financial performance of  its AmFIRST Real Estate Investment Trust (AmFIRST):-

·          Posted revenue of RM23.65 million for the first quarter ended 30 June 2009, a 5 per cent increase from RM22.52 million registered in the previous corresponding quarter. Net property income for the period grew marginally to RM15.23 million compared to RM15.07 million in the corresponding period last year,

·          Profit after tax rose 10 per cent to RM10.58 million against RM9.60 million before. Earnings per unit was 2.47 sen.

The improved performance arose from the contribution of income derived from positive rental reversions recorded from its three properties – Kelana Brem Towers, The Summit Subang USJ and Menara AmBank.The first quarter financial results was considered good when compared against the current global economic slowdown which also impacted the REITs industry worldwide. According to chief executive officer Lim Yoon Peng, AmFIRST Reit  is able to continue to attract and retain quality tenants, thus generating steady rental income for the Trust. For this year, the manager has lined up enhancement and repositioning works for its properties. The first building involved – Menara Merais in Petaling Jaya – should see its renovation works completed by November this yearBT:24/8/2009

CEO, Liew Mun Leong of  CapitaLand,Southeast Asia‘s largest property developer CapitaLand announced that the company is to:-

• deploy S$1 billion of S$1.8 billion (S$1 = RM2.44) in capital raised from a recent rights issue to its businesses in China, Vietnam and the Ascott Group.
• S$500 million of the S$1 billion will go to its China arm, S$299 million to Vietnam and the remainder to Ascott, a wholly-owned unit that operates serviced apartments.
• The rest of the S$1.8 billion will be kept for further investment opportunities.

Source: Reuter

Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd(CIMB) failed in its second attempt to recover its loan to Metroplex Bhd by auctioning the company’s property.

Details:
Auctioned property:

• Putra Place, which houses The Mall shopping complex, the five-star Legend Hotel and an office tower.
• Its reserve price was set at RM634.5 million. 
• The Mall comprises eight levels of podium retail/shopping units. The Putra Place office tower covers the tenth floor to the 33rd floor, while the 25-storey Legend Hotel includes serviced apartments and penthouses.The freehold property with 193,621 sq ft space has 1,323 parking bays. 
• The first auction was in April 2008 at a reserve price of RM705 million. As no bids were received, the price was reduced by 10 per cent to RM634.5 million.Despite heavy publicity like in the local dailies, advertisements were placed in the LA Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Jakarta Post, the second time auction was not successful

According to real estate experts:

• The commercial property, which is opposite the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, did not draw interest at the public auction yesterday because of its value and size.
• Real estate agent Previndran Singhe of Zerin Properties said it was rare for people to buy big-ticket items that go under the hammer. The purchaser(s) would prefer the deals to be done via tender or private treaty, adding that interest in a property on auction would not just depend on where one advertised but also how one advertised. The notices section in a publication tends to serve as information rather than a marketing effort.
• Regroup Associates Sdn Bhd managing director Allan Soo agreed saying that when large amounts of money were involved, the buyer would normally opt to do due diligence.
• An industry player who acquires assets on a regular basis said that for an acquisition of the size of Putra Place, one would need to be informed of the risks and that there should be full disclosure like for examples: tenancies, tenures, provision for bad debts, running costs, and age and status of the mechanical and engineering and whether additional capital expenditure would be involved.