BSL cautious on Malaysia rate hike as it plans property venture

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 26): BSL Corp Bhd expects the Malaysian property sector's volatility to continue after Bank Negara Malaysia increased the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3.25%.

BSL, a contract manufacturer of electronic products, is venturing into property development.

"This is all the possibility with Bank Negara increasing the OPR by 0.25% and that's not going to help (the property sector).

"We are into niche scale and location because we believe that what we do now the big developers won't be interested, so that gives us more room," BSL chief executive officer and executive director Ngiam Tee Wee told reporters after the group's annual general meeting here today.

Ngiam said BSL plans to develop commercial properties with a gross development value (GDV) of RM10 million. He said the company intends to finalise its land acquisition in Ipoh, Perak in current financial year ending Aug 31, 2018 for the project.

"We are still in negotiation with the vendor and expect to finalise it (the deal) this financial year. We target to build commercial lots because our GDV is just few million (ringgit) and currently our radar is on shoplots," he said. — theedgemarkets.com

For more stories, download EdgeProp.my pullout here for free.