Sing Holdings inks deal to buy Hillcourt Apartments for $361m

Sing Holdings inks deal to buy Hillcourt Apartments for $361m
March 23rd, 2007

Sing Holdings has signed a conditional agreement to buy the freehold Hillcourt Apartments on Cairnhill Road for $361 million or about $1,542 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area (GFA).

The price is about 75 per cent higher than the $880 psf per plot ratio (ppr) that SC Global paid in H1 2006 for Hilltops Apartments at Cairnhill Circle and 16 adjoining terrace houses, reflecting the surge in prime land values in Singapore over the past year.

The unit land price for Hillcourt Apartments also beats the $1,107 psf ppr that CapitaLand paid for the next-door Silver Tower in September last year. Both the Silver Tower and Hillcourt en bloc sales were handled by Savills Singapore.

Sing Holdings will not have to pay a development charge (DC) for the Hillcourt site up to the existing development’s GFA of 234,095 square feet, which works out to 3.0778 times the land area of 76,059 sq ft. However, if Sing Holdings decides to tap an additional 10 per cent GFA allowed for balcony space, it will have to pay a DC.

Nonetheless, this will lower Sing Holdings’ unit land price to $1,444 psf ppr, according to Sing Holdings managing director Lee Sze Hao.

Mr Lee also said the group will once again team up with US-based fund Forum for its acquisition of Hillcourt Apartments, although the respective stakes of the two parties have yet to be finalised.

The companies worked together for the earlier purchase of Finland Gardens in the East Coast and Bellerive at Keng Chin Road.

Sing Holdings’ break even cost for a new condo project on the Hillcourt site could be about $2,000 psf, factoring in rising construction costs, BT understands.

Mr Lee said the company is looking to develop a new 20-storey condo with about 180 units ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 sq ft. The project could be launched around the final quarter of next year.

The tender for Hillcourt Apartments closed on Wednesday, attracting several bids, Savills said yesterday. The highest was from Sing Holdings.

Owners of Hillcourt’s existing 100 apartments and two penthouses will receive $3.46 million per apartment and $7.26 million per penthouse.

These sums are about 60 per cent higher than if the units had been sold individually.

Sing Holdings said in its release to the Singapore Exchange that its purchase of Hillcourt Apartments is subject to a permissible GFA of 234,095 sq ft, and approval from the Strata Titles Board.

Source: The Business Times, 23 March 2007

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