Hatten Land yet to receive US$60m for Gold Mart divestment despite deadline extension

PROPERTY developer Hatten Land said it has not received the US$60 million payment from Singapore-based Tayrona Capital Group Corp for the proposed divestment of wholly owned Malaysian unit Gold Mart, a transaction that was approved by shareholders in November last year.

The completion date for the transaction was recently extended to Sept 17, 2021. The board said on Friday night that it is cognisant of the unduly long delay in completing the proposed transaction, with the completion date having been re-extended many times.

It understands that the delay is due to substantial documentation and time required by the financial institutions involved to approve and process the cross-border payment of the substantial amount of money.

The delays were further exacerbated by the pandemic, the board said.

Gold Mart is a property developer in Malaysia. Hatten Land's proposed divestment of the company to Tayrona Capital, and Tayrona Capital's additional investment in Gold Mart, would reduce Hatten Land's stake in Gold Mart from 100 per cent to 1 per cent.

Hatten Land said in a circular to shareholders dated Oct 29, 2020 that Tayrona Capital is an investment holding company that is part of the Tayrona group of companies engaged in hospitality and investment. As at that date, its shareholders were Jaime Alfonso Ordonez Arturo with a stake of 85 per cent, and Adhara Pte Ltd with a stake of 15 per cent.

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Hatten Land had intended to divest Gold Mart to raise funds amid the challenging Covid-19 situation. It also cited cash flow pressure from Gold Mart's construction project and a legal dispute with that project's main contractor as motivators.

Tayrona has provided assurance to Hatten Land's management that it remains keen and committed to completing the proposed transaction, Hatten Land's board said. Tayrona also said it is "close to resolving the issues impeding the (transaction)" but cannot reasonably ascertain exactly how long that would take.

The board and management believes it is in the best interest of the company to give Tayrona more time to make payment.

Separately on Sunday, mainboard-listed Singapore Myanmar Investco said it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Hatten Technology, Hatten Land’s subsidiary, to explore opportunities in cryptocurrency mining activities in Malaysia.

Both parties will develop a business plan to evaluate a sustainable long-term business model. This includes possibly installing cryptocurrency mining machines in Malacca.

Singapore Myanmar Investco has businesses across several sectors but derives a bulk of its revenue from the travel and fashion retail segment. The company intends to pivot in a new direction that encompasses cryptocurrency, software-as-a-service and other high technology platforms.

Hatten Land’s counter closed at 7.3 Singapore cents on Friday, up 1.3 cents or 21.7 per cent.

Singapore Myanmar Investco’s counter closed at 12.4 Singapore cents on Friday, down 0.3 cent or 2.36 per cent.