Meridian to sell assets to fund Malaysia Tourism City in Melaka

KUALA LUMPUR (April 6): Meridian Bhd is selling a number of its assets in order to fund the development of the 622-acre Malaysia Tourism City (MTC) in Kota Linggi, Melaka, reported The Edge Malaysia in its latest issue.

These assets include a mall and an office building in Seberang Perai, Penang, and land parcels in Cyberjaya, Selangor.

Meridian Bhd was formerly known as Meda Inc Bhd.

“The decision to divest the long-held assets follows the emergence last June of a new substantial shareholder, Datuk Seth Yap Ting Hau,” wrote the weekly.

Yap is the founder and CEO of M101 Group of Companies, which is famous for the M101 Skywheel project in Kuala Lumpur.

“The strategy [for Meridian] is to unlock the value of these assets. Meda has suffered many years of losses. We have set a new direction for the company, which is to focus 100% on the development of MTC,” Yap (who is also the CEO of Meridian) told the business publication.

It has been reported that the Seberang Perai asset is The Summit in Bukit Mertajam made up of a five-storey freehold shopping mall with 314,979 sq ft of space, a seven-storey office tower with 59,998 sq ft of space and 662 parking bays.

Meanwhile, the three land parcels with commercial titles in Cyberjaya in total are 6.12 acres and estimated to be worth RM20 million.

As to why Meridian is selling the 17-year-old The Summit, Yap said: “Mall management  is not our core business.”

Yap also provided some details on the MTC project, with Phase 1 having “a weekend market, an adventure park, a water theme park and bungalows”.

Yap said Meridian will invest RM20 million in the weekend market which is expected to open in mid-2020.

He also revealed that “500 of the 3,500 booths [in the weekend market] available for lease have already been taken up”.

Meanwhile, the adventure park “is scheduled to open its doors by the end of the year”, Yap told the weekly.

He said Meridian “will have to pump in RM5 million to refurbish the 50-acre site” (previously used as an obstacle course for team building).

The water theme park “is expected to be ready in three years”. It will “span 15 acres” and cost “about RM80 million”.

Also set for launch in MTC are 480 bungalows. “Each plot measures about 9,000 sq ft. The units will have a built-up of 2,000 sq ft and sell for RM700,000 to RM800,000,” Yap said.

As for Phases 2 and 3, there will be “a designer moto-tourism park, a shopping mall and entertainment centre, a convention centre, a medical centre and even contract farming of organic food”.