Horizon Towers for allegedly breaching the option to purchase agreement for the $500 million

The Hotel Properties-led consortium yesterday filed a suit in the High Court against the majority owners of Horizon Towers for allegedly breaching the option to purchase agreement for the $500 million collective sale of the Leonie Hill property.

The proceedings that HPL instituted in the High Court also seek to get an order that the vendors of Horizon Towers ‘do everything in their power to obtain a collective sale order from the Strata Titles Board’, it was mentioned in a statement to the Singapore Exchange yesterday evening.

In addition, HPL could seek damages for breach of contract.

The law suit came about after the Strata Titles Board dismissed on Aug 3 an application by Horizon Towers’ majority owners seeking STB’s order for the collective sale. Earlier, the HPL-led consortium, which also includes Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Qatar Investment Authority, had exercised their option to purchase.

The STB’s dismissal of the application was greeted with jubilation by some of Horizon Towers’ owners, given the steep rise in prime district residential values since the deal with the HPL-consortium was sealed.

Following STB’s decision, the sales committee representing Horizon Towers majority owners chose not to extend the sale agreement with the HPL consortium when it expired on Aug 11.

The HPL-consortium had earlier threatened to sue the majority owners for lost profits - estimated at $800 million to $1 billion - from a redevelopment of the site. They also wanted the sale deadline extended by four months and the STB decision appealed.

Source : Business Times - 24 Aug 2007