KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): Billionaire Robert Kuok-controlled developer Allgreen Properties Ltd has submitted the top bid for a prime residential site near Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping precinct, as the developer expands its portfolio in the city-state, despite softening housing demand.
In a report last week, Forbes said Allgreen’s Valerian Residential placed the highest bid of S$730 million (US$544 million) for the 99-year leasehold site on Zion Road, about three kilometres south of Orchard Road, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The magazine said that was higher than the S$660.8 million offered by the only other bidder, a partnership between two units of billionaire Kwek Leng Beng’s Hong Leong Group.
It said Singapore developers have recently been shunning government land auctions, as housing demand is softening amid higher borrowing costs and the government’s property cooling measures.
About 610 housing units could be built on the Zion Road site, which is near Allgreen’s Great World City shopping and commercial complex.
Forbes said Allgreen — the privately-held real estate arm of the Kuok group — has been stepping up its investments in Singapore, a haven for the world’s richest and host to more than 1,000 family offices from around the world.
It said that last month, Allgreen opened the shopping mall component of Pasir Ris 8, a residential condominium integrated to the Pasir Ris transport hub in the easternmost part of Singapore.
In March, the company bought the Seletar Mall in the northeastern part of Singapore for S$550 million.