Oxley’s Chings, LHN, KSH, Soon Hock form joint venture for S$351 million industrial property
The Thomson Gem JV will buy NTUC Fairprice Co-operative’s 680 Upper Thomson Road freehold site
[SINGAPORE] LHN Group, KSH Holdings and Soon Hock Enterprise announced on Wednesday (Oct 22) the entry into a joint venture (JV) alongside Macritchie Developments, CP-Tagore, Petrus Capital, Tay Lian Xie Tarol and Chin Hong Oon.
The JV, Thomson Gem, was incorporated on Oct 13 and won the tender to purchase NTUC Fairprice Co-operative’s 680 Upper Thomson Road industrial property for S$351 million.
The freehold property was put up for sale by NTUC in September. The site housed a warehouse used as a fresh food distribution centre, which opened in 2003.
LHN, KSH and Soon Hock will be part of Thomson Gem through their wholly owned subsidiaries WPS (TPY), KSH Blazar and Soon Hock Fortune, respectively.
Macritchie Developments will hold a 26.5 per cent stake in Thomson Gem, followed by KSH Blazar with 25 per cent and CP-Tagore with 22.5 per cent. Soon Hock Fortune will hold 10 per cent, while Petrus Capital and WPS (TPY) will own 5 per cent each. Tay and Chin will own 3 per cent each.
Oxley Holdings chief executive Ching Chiat Kwong and his son privately own Macritchie Developments, while CP-Tagore is a private vehicle held by Centurion Properties’ controlling shareholders David Loh and Han Seng Juan.
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Each Thomson Gem shareholder is expected to contribute its share of the S$351 million in proportion to its interest in the JV.
LHN said that the JV will allow it to expand its property development business, while KSH and Soon Hock said they are using it to capitalise on opportunities in the industrial property sector while diversifying their respective portfolios.
The Business Times reported last month that CBRE was appointed to market the property, which is at the corner of Upper Thomson Road and Tagore Drive. The property consulting group conducted an expression-of-interest exercise.
SEE ALSO
The 263,900 square foot (sq ft) site has substantial redevelopment potential.
Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Draft Master Plan 2025, it is zoned Business 1 with a 2.0 plot ratio, allowing a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of about 527,800 sq ft. This is almost 2.3 times the property’s existing GFA of 232,071 sq ft.
No land-betterment charge will be payable as the maximum allowable GFA matches the site’s development baseline.
Shares of LHN ended Wednesday 4.8 per cent or S$0.04 higher at S$0.87, KSH shares closed 5.3 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$0.40 and Soon Hock shares ended 0.9 per cent or S$0.005 lower at S$0.58, before the announcement.
With additional reporting by Kalpana Rashiwala
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