Stamford Land takes A$265m loan to build Sydney project

Singapore STAMFORD Land Corporation on Friday announced that HSH Hotels (Australia) Ltd, as trustee for a trust that it wholly owns, has signed a loan agreement with a major commercial bank for a secured term loan facility of A$265 million (S$277 million).

This will be used to fund the construction of its Macquarie Park Village project, a residential mixed-use development at the corner of Herring and Epping Roads, Macquarie Park, in Sydney. It is to be built on the site where Stamford Grand North Ryde, a hotel property that Stamford Land owns, is currently operating.

The transaction has no impact on the group's earnings per share or net tangible assets per share for the financial year ending March 31, 2016, it said.

Comprising 648 units across seven towers, the freehold Macquarie Park Village was already 96 per cent or 622 units pre-sold, amounting to total gross sales of A$427 million as at May 31, 2014.

Sales proceeds for Macquarie Park Village will be recognised in 2017 when the project is completed. This is unlike Singapore residential projects which recognise their sales progressively on a percentage-of-completion basis. This helps to ease construction funding for the latter.

Construction at Macquarie Park Village had started early this year, chief financial officer Chua Siew Hwi told BT on Friday.

Stamford Land's counter closed unchanged at S$0.565 on Friday.