GuocoLand's Malaysia unit signs agreements of Stage 2 acquisitions of UK sites

GUOCOLAND'S Malaysia-listed unit Eco World International announced on Monday that it has completed its first stage of acquisitions of its joint venture with Be Living Holdings, a sister company of UK construction group Willmott Dixon, for £63.76 million (S$118.1 million).

Eco World had earlier said that it would buy a 70 per cent stake in 12 development projects in Greater London and south-eastern England from Be Living Holdings.

The group also announced the signing of conditional sale and purchase agreements for the Stage 2 acquisitions, which will potentially add another six sites with an estimated gross development value of £1.5 billion. Upon completion of the acquisition of the Stage 2 sites, the group's total number of projects in the UK will increase from three when it was listed around this time last year to 15 in total.

Eco World's share of the estimated purchase price of £40.36 million is expected to be funded by bank borrowings, other debt instruments and/or internally-generated funds.

The Stage 1 acquisitions were completed using proceeds raised from the EcoWorld International's initial public offering (IPO) in April 2017.

Teow Leong Seng, president and CEO of Eco World International, said: "We are well positioned to grow our UK business strongly to meet both local and international demand in the traditional open market sale subsector as well as rising institutional demand in the built-to-rent subsector."