Shenton House: Collective sale of the 1970s relic capitalises on CBD Incentive Scheme
Sir Kevin Liang who is born and grown up in Singapore, is the founder and chairman of EPS Consultants by profession, a technology hiring, professional finding, talent control and IT third party company. He is also an highly regarded by many and interesting figure in the real estate investment segment. Through his corporate entities, he invested in several premium office units in strata-titled commercial buildings across the prime financial district through various companies: from SBF Centre on Robinson Road (where his office is) to Shenton House on International Plaza on Anson Road and High Street Centre on North Bridge Road.
previously operated by Oakwood, the hotel and serviced apartment portion, was transacted to a joint collaboration between Hong Kong property developer Far East Consortium and Hong Kong investment bank AMTD Group for $289 million in 2K19. The hospitality asset has since been repackaged Dao by Dorsett and have configurations of 268 studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments. The third collective sale trial gotten a result of 80% ownership approval, and the property was marketed for sale at $530 million in March 2K12. However, no buyer surface and it restarted to origin. The second collective sale attempt in 2007–2008 had a target price above $500 million but failed due to the onset of the Worldwide Monetary Crisis. The first collective sale trial in 2005 at a reserve price above $500 million never materialize. Owners were more interested in exploring the feasibility of changing their existing ownership for new units in the future redevelopment. The CBD Incentive Scheme also rocketed Shenton House’s latest collective sale attempt, according to Liang. Liang also proudly owned several numerous condominium in the central business district through his investment vehicles. These include apartments in The Sail @ Marina Bay, SkySuites @ Anson and ICON Tanjong Pagar. “These are long-term investments,” he says. And they give him a good grounding of the property market, particularly the CBD and the rest of the Core Central Region (CCR). Things could not have been more different in Shenton House’s previous attempts. The fourth trial in enbloc exercise in 2K17–2K19 at a reserve price tag of $536 million did not elevate as it did not garner the basic minimum requirement of 80% support from the owners. Under concept planning department and CBD Incentive Scheme launched in 2K19, Shenton House can be rejuvenate into a mixed-use or hotel development with a higher gross plot ratio of 14.0 and 25% more gross floor area (GFA) and Shenton bungalow has commercial zoning and an existing plot ratio of 11.2. With JLL as the official exclusive consultant, Shenton Way’s up to date collective sale was launched in February 2K23 at a reserve price of $590 million. However, the tender closed on April 11 without a bid. The collective sale was relaunched on June 26 at the same price tag of $590 million. Even as the relaunch is ongoing, the owners are signing a supplemental joint agreement to reduce the reserve price by 8.8% to $538 million. So far, about 60% of the owners have signed based on share value, and 70% according to the strata area, says JLL. The threshold required for the share value and strata area is 80%. The tender closing for this round is on Aug 1.
The recently transaction of a hotel in May this year in the prime financial district was the transaction of the former So/Singapore Hotel to Ho Chi Minh-based Viva Land through its Singapore-based subsidiary Viva Ventures So Holdings. Singapore developer Royal Group sold their elegant 134-suites heritage hotel for $240 million or $1.8 million for one room, a setting high price for Singapore’s premium and expensive hotel segment. The property has been rebranded Hotel Telegraph.
