Pacific Star in talks to invest in Bangkok

Pacific Star in talks to invest in Bangkok

Investment Opportunities

Pacific Star International (Thailand) Ltd, a regional real-estate investment firm, and its Thai partners are negotiating a possible six-billion-baht investment in two Bangkok properties, according to assistant vice-president Daniel Ross.

Two properties in the central business district (CBD), an office building and a residential project, are under discussion. However, Mr Ross said, it was still too early to indicate whether both sides could conclude the deals.

Pacific Star, with headquarters in Singapore, manages several property funds, including the 500-million Asia Real Estate Income Fund (AREIF) and the US$600-million Baitak Asia Real Estate Fund along with Kuwait Finance House.

Besides Bangkok, the group has offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Shanghai. It plans to open more sites in Beijing, Sydney, Seoul, Tokyo and Mumbai.

Each office sends investment proposals to the parent company, which then allocates funds from a pool of regional resources. In Thailand, the company wants any CBD properties to earn an internal return rate of 15-20% and a yield of 8-9% per year.

Urasate Navanugraha, an asset manager for Pacific Star International (Thailand), said investments in Thailand must be more selective due to the country’s economic and political uncertainties.

He said the group still saw Thailand as an attractive place with more investment opportunities than Singapore, where local developers already have a strong foothold.

The group has already invested five billion baht in two projects in Thailand through the ARIEF. It will soon launch sales of 350 units in the Sathorn Garden condominium on Sathorn Road near the Malaysian Embassy, at prices between 90,000 and 100,000 baht per square metre.

Its other project, RS Tower Thong Lo, will be developed into retail space. The total sales value of the two projects is about seven billion baht.

Mr Urasate said Pacific Star had no set minium investment size, as it depended on whether the company was buying empty land, distressed buildings or company shares.

‘’If it is an investment in a residential project, the size should be about two to three billion baht because the company focuses on high-quality projects in prime locations in the CBD,'’ he said.

Pacific Star in talks to invest in Bangkok

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