Whether it is an empty hole, a partially covered hole, a completely covered hole, it is still a 'big hole' in the ground if a project has been abandoned. You can say that the project has been 'put on hold' but it does not detach from the fact there is indeed a 'big hole' in the ground. No need to be so defensive. Many other big-wig developers were also caught during the Asian crisis.
Liew Mun Leong of Capital Land only mention of his company's successful projects.
Did he care to talk about the stumbles?
Capital Land bought Farrer Court Estate in an en-bloc sale at a record price, at the peak of the Singapore property market in 2007.
I think each former owner of Farrer Court received S$ 2.1 million.
Capital Land paid a record price for the 99year lease-hold property and record prices for other properties during the en-bloc sale frenzy.
If I were Lew Mun Leong I would be worrying about what to do with the land bank bought at record prices, rather than boast about past achievements.
Capital Land also paid a relatively 'cheap' price for Gillman Heights. Like the purchase of Farrer Court, it was done through a consortium. Hence, Capital Land mitigated and shared the risks with the other partners. Smart move. Anyway, In land-scarce Singapore, Liew Mun Leong need not worry. The units in Farrer Court can be rented out until such times when the property market starts to recover. He certainly would be worrying if he had bought another 'big hole' in Shanghai, Tokyo, Mumbai or whatever that is outside of Singapore.
there are in the process of demolishing the Farrer Court apartments. Some blocks are already leveled. They should just use explosive to blow them up instead of hammering floor by floor producing so much noise to the neighbourhood
Pitfighter, do you go around with your eyes closed or are the windows of your car so darkly tinted you cannot see properly'
Farrer Court is undergoing demolition.
You think people want to stay in half demolished apartments.
Gillman Heights is the only decent buy in the en-bloc market but it was done with the help of NUS.
Capital Land had bought a long string of en-bloc parcels of land at peak prices.
Another problem facing Capital Land is that it may be pulled in to do national service.
The latest news is that Sands may have cash flow problems and Temasek may have to come to the rescue.
The government cannot afford to allow their first "casino" project to fail.
The most likely company in Temasek's stable to be called up for NS would be Capital Land.
After having bought shares in Chartered Semiconductor, I have lost faith in Temasek linked companies.
I bought Chartered at slightly above $4.00. around 2001.
Chartered was unable to compete against the Taiwanese semi-conductor manufacturers and profits turned into losses.
At one stage the wafer fabrication plants were operating at 50 per cent capacity.
Yet the CEO, Mr. Chia Song Hwee did not find it necessary to reduce manpower.
The losses piled up year after year. Instead of cutting cost (by retrenching) the management of Chartered to issue more shares as a source of capital.
Sharholders did not like the idea of this dilution of the shares and many liquidated.
I also decided to cut losses, and bailed out when the share price fell to $1.80
The share price is now hovering around 20 cents.
I hope Mr. Liew Mun Leong knows what he is doing when he decided not to cut manpower.
Pitfighter,
You can talk about land being a scarce comodity in Singapore.
Well, oil is also a scarce commodity.
Yet oil has fallen from its peak of US$147 per barrel to US$40 per barrel with some analysts predicting it to fall further to US$ 25
December 11, 2008 Thursday, 01:58 AM
